Page 26 - ATA

A16 LOCAL
Saturday 20 July 2019

Net Foreign Assets Dropped

Summary of the Monthly Bulletin of May 2019

Monetary developments million) and in the net claims of the
Compared to April 2019, money banking sector on the public sec-
supply contracted by Afl. 60.2 mil- tor (+Afl. 9.8 million). The upturn in
lion to Afl. 4,402.8 million in May the claims of the banking sector on
2019, resulting from a drop in net the private sector was attributed
foreign assets (-Afl. 152.2 million) to increases in loans to enterpris-
and a rise in net domestic assets es (+Afl. 74.2 million) and housing
(+Afl. 92.0 million). mortgages (+Afl. 6.6 million), which
were slightly offset by a decrease
The drop in the net foreign assets in consumer credit (-Afl. 2.7 million).
of the banking sector resulted from The growth in the net claims of the
net sales of foreign exchange to banking sector on the public sec-
the public (-Afl. 324.9 million), most- tor was caused by an increase of
ly related to payments for goods, Afl. 85.1 million in the gross claims,
other investment and other ser- which was largely offset by a rise of
vices. This was largely offset by net Afl. 75.3 million in government de-
purchases of foreign exchange posits. cent in April 2019. (-Afl. 1.6 million). These downturns
from the public (+Afl. 172.7 million), were largely offset by increases in
mainly associated with foreign ex- Inflation Government income from turnover tax (+Afl. 9.5
change revenue from tourism ex- The consumer price index (CPI) for Total government revenue million; introduction of the B.A.V.P
ports. May 2019 noted a 4.8 percent in- amounted to Afl. 161.7 million in as opposed to the same month in
crease year-over-year (YOY). The May 2019, Afl. 31.4 million less than 2018), and land tax (+Afl. 5.2 mil-
The upsurge in the domestic com- main contributors to this rise were the same month of the previous lion).
ponent of the money supply was the components “Food and Non- year. This outcome resulted from
due to increases in domestic credit Alcoholic Beverages” and “Com- decreases in both nontax revenue Tourism
(+Afl. 88.0 million) and non-credit munication”. Furthermore, by ex- (-Afl. 24.7 million) and tax revenue Please note that figures on tourism
related balance sheet items (+Afl. cluding the effect of food and (-Afl. 6.8 million). The reduction in were not yet available at the time
4.0 million). The growth in domestic energy , the core CPI grew by 2.9 tax revenue was associated mainly of publication of this bulletin.
credit was caused by expansions percent (YOY). The 12-month aver- with declines in income from profit
in the claims of the banking sec- age inflation rate was 4.4 percent tax (-Afl. 14.1 million), wage tax Centrale Bank van Aruba
tor on the private sector (+Afl. 78.2 in May 2019, compared to 4.3 per- (-Afl. 6.6 million) and import duties