Page 15 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 15
LOCAL A15
Wednesday 3 January 2018
Growth Expected in 2018, Uncertainty Remains in Medium Term
ORANJESTAD - The Centrale er, there is still considerable ters of 2017. The business crease of Afl. 163.3 million in interest rate margin de-
Bank van Aruba (CBA) pub- uncertainty surrounding this perception index showed the half year under review, creased to 5.0 percent, the
lished both the Economic project. a remarkable growth in the thereby raising the debt- lowest quarterly margin re-
Outlook 2018 and the State The expected growth is second quarter of 2017, to-GDP ratio to an unprec- corded since 1998.
of the Economy for the first based, inter alia, on the indicating that there is a edented 87.7 percent. The current account of
two quarters of 2017 re- tourism-induced recovery growing confidence in the Money supply decreased the balance of payments
cently. The highlights here during 2017. Aruban economy. Con- by 0.8 percent to Afl. registered an Afl. 170.6 mil-
of are presented below. Tourism figures improved sumption indicators sug- 4,134.2 million in June 2017 lion surplus in the first two
in the first six months with gest that the level of con- compared to December quarters of 2017, related to
Following two consecutive growth in tourism receipts sumption picked up in the 2016. Domestic credit ex- strong inflows from tourism.
years of economic con- and expansions in the second quarter of the year, tended by the monetary The deficit in the capital
traction, the Aruban econ- North American and the yet remains subdued. sector expanded by 0.3 and financial account, at
omy is set to resume growth (non-Venezuelan) Latin Total government revenue percent carried by a 2.1 the height of Afl. 151.3 mil-
for 2017 and 2018 expand- American markets. Aruba’s decreased by 0.8 percent percent increase in housing lion was due mainly to low
ing by, respectively, 2.6 tourism performance also in the first two quarters of mortgages. incoming foreign direct in-
percent and 2.7 percent in stands favorably com- 2017while total govern- The weighted average vestment as well as net out-
real terms. Tourism service pared to its competitors in ment expenditure (cash quarterly interest rate on flows in the portfolio invest-
exports are the main driver the Caribbean, when ex- adjusted) declined by 1.1 new loans declined signifi- ment account.
of economic growth. Nev- cluding the Venezuelan percent compared to the cantly to 6.4 percent, re- Official reserves declined
ertheless, a key precondi- market. same period in 2016. Gov- flecting mainly lower inter- by Afl. 11.8 million com-
tion for realizing growth is Private investment acceler- ernment debt amounted est rates on commercial pared to end-2016. Conse-
the (timely) execution of ated in the first two quar- to Afl. 4,188,6 million, an in- loans. Consequently, the quently, total foreign assets
the upgrade of the refin- reserves (including revalu-
ery, as well as other large ation differences) reached
planned investment proj- Afl. 1,917.9 million.
ects. Execution of the refin- The import coverage ratio
ery project is expected to stood at 5.5 months, which
result in the medium term in is 0.2 months lower than at
a higher level of gross do- the end of 2016.
mestic project (GDP), but Both publications are avail-
with limited annual growth able on the CBA’s website
in domestic output. Howev- (www.cbaruba.org).q
