Page 22 - ARUBA BANK

A15
LOCAL Wednesday 3 January 2018

Growth Expected in 2018, Uncertainty Remains in Medium Term

ORANJESTAD - The Centrale interest rate margin de-
Bank van Aruba (CBA) pub- creased to 5.0 percent, the
lished both the Economic lowest quarterly margin re-
Outlook 2018 and the State corded since 1998.
of the Economy for the first The current account of
two quarters of 2017 re- the balance of payments
cently. The highlights here registered an Afl. 170.6 mil-
of are presented below. lion surplus in the first two
quarters of 2017, related to
Following two consecutive strong inflows from tourism.
years of economic con- er, there is still considerable ters of 2017. The business crease of Afl. 163.3 million in The deficit in the capital
traction, the Aruban econ- uncertainty surrounding this perception index showed the half year under review, and financial account, at
omy is set to resume growth project. a remarkable growth in the thereby raising the debt- the height of Afl. 151.3 mil-
for 2017 and 2018 expand- The expected growth is second quarter of 2017, to-GDP ratio to an unprec- lion was due mainly to low
ing by, respectively, 2.6 based, inter alia, on the indicating that there is a edented 87.7 percent. incoming foreign direct in-
percent and 2.7 percent in tourism-induced recovery growing confidence in the Money supply decreased vestment as well as net out-
real terms. Tourism service during 2017. Aruban economy. Con- by 0.8 percent to Afl. flows in the portfolio invest-
exports are the main driver Tourism figures improved sumption indicators sug- 4,134.2 million in June 2017 ment account.
of economic growth. Nev- in the first six months with gest that the level of con- compared to December Official reserves declined
ertheless, a key precondi- growth in tourism receipts sumption picked up in the 2016. Domestic credit ex- by Afl. 11.8 million com-
tion for realizing growth is and expansions in the second quarter of the year, tended by the monetary pared to end-2016. Conse-
the (timely) execution of North American and the yet remains subdued. sector expanded by 0.3 quently, total foreign assets
the upgrade of the refin- (non-Venezuelan) Latin Total government revenue percent carried by a 2.1 reserves (including revalu-
ery, as well as other large American markets. Aruba’s decreased by 0.8 percent percent increase in housing ation differences) reached
planned investment proj- tourism performance also in the first two quarters of mortgages. Afl. 1,917.9 million.
ects. Execution of the refin- stands favorably com- 2017while total govern- The weighted average The import coverage ratio
ery project is expected to pared to its competitors in ment expenditure (cash quarterly interest rate on stood at 5.5 months, which
result in the medium term in the Caribbean, when ex- adjusted) declined by 1.1 new loans declined signifi- is 0.2 months lower than at
a higher level of gross do- cluding the Venezuelan percent compared to the cantly to 6.4 percent, re- the end of 2016.
mestic project (GDP), but market. same period in 2016. Gov- flecting mainly lower inter- Both publications are avail-
with limited annual growth Private investment acceler- ernment debt amounted est rates on commercial able on the CBA’s website
in domestic output. Howev- ated in the first two quar- to Afl. 4,188,6 million, an in- loans. Consequently, the (www.cbaruba.org).q