Solomon Islands
p. 31 · Read in the full issue
Credit grows, liquidity tightens COMMERCIAL bank surplus liquidity tightened further during the first quar ter of 1990 to just 515200,000 (U 5580,645) compared with 5155.7 mil lion (U 552.29 million) for the corres ponding period of 1989. The March quarterly review from the Central Bank of Solomon Islands said this deteriora tion in liquidity resulted from a con tinued expansion in domestic credit and a marked decline in foreign assets, the latter down Slsl9 million (U 557.66 mil lion) in the period.
Total domestic credit grew by 13.6 per cent, or Sls 16.5 million during the quar ter under review. There had been a 13.5 per cent expansion in the December 1989 quarter. Government credit re quirements expanded more quickly than the private sector’s, with agricultural and forestry sectors showing a decline.
In the quarter, the following produc tion level changes were recorded: copra 17 per cent; palm oil and kernal + 37.2 per cent; cocoa 29.9 per cent; fish 74.1 per cent and timber +24,1 per cent. Total visitor arrivals were down 8.9 per cent for the March quarter, but the average stay for tourists rose from 10 to 12 days compared to the same period of 1989.