Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY

A14 LOCAL
Saturday 18 auguSt 2018

Happy Pinot Noir Day

don’t offer the protection Day
of thicker skinned grapes, Head down to your local
and can be finicky dur- store and procure yourself
ing the aging process, fre- a bottle of this delicious
quently being uneven and wine. Pinot Noir comes in
unpredictable. The tight many varieties that each
clusters require careful carries the personality and
management lest rot set taste of the regions they
in, and this often involves come from. Get together
careful management of with your friends and each
the canopy. For those who brings a bottle of your fa-
are willing to brave it and vorite Pinot Noir and then
cultivate the skill, the wine collect other bottles of
that is produced is beyond vintages of Pinot Noir with
measure. Pinot Noir Day which you are less familiar.
celebrates all that is re- Pinot Noir Day is a great op-
quired to produce this wine portunity to broaden your
and the delicious bounty palette and indulge in your
that unfolds. favorite variety of this dark
wine. Enjoy it and share
How to Celebrate Pinot Noir generously! q

ARUBA ― Pinot is a fantastic History of Pinot Noir Day Willamette Valley, Oregon
wine, but a temperamen- Every wine deserves to in the USA and Walker Bay
tal grape. With its rich color have a day dedicated to region of South Africa both
and complex flavors, it is its consumption, and none produce notably large
largely considered one of more so than Pinot Noir. Pi- crops. Of course, cultivat-
the most hedonistic wines not Noir is so named due to ing Pinot Noir is not a task
ever made. Elegant and the dark color of the grapes, for the faint of heart, for
berry-lie, its velvet flavor is and the pine-cone shaped these grapes are difficult to
the perfect addition to any clusters they grow in on the cultivate and tricky to turn
affair. Pinot Noir Day cele- vine. Showing a strong pref- into wine.
brates this wine and the re- erence for cooler climates, Perhaps that’s appropri-
gions of the world in which the grape of the same ate for a wine that is both
it’s cultivated. name is grown primarily in rich and complex. The skin
Burgundy, France, though of the grapes are thin and

Monetary Policy 2018

ORANJESTAD — During its tional reserves and the of- In both the end-of-period tourism market. flows related to tourism ac-
meeting of May 24, 2018, ficial reserves reached, re- rate (2.6 percent) and the tivities.
the Monetary Policy Com- spectively, Afl. 1,884.9 mil- 12-month average rate (0.0 Money supply
mittee (MPC) of the Cen- lion and Afl. 1,736.5 million percent) of inflation price Money supply registered Financial markets
trale Bank van Aruba (CBA) at end-March 2018. level rises were measured an increase of Afl. 54.4 mil- Expansions were recorded
decided to keep the re- by the Consumer Price In- lion to Afl. 4,386.9 million in the weighted average
serve requirement at 11.0 Credit developments dex (CPI). Both increases compared to the previ- interest rate on new loans
percent and to uphold the Overall credit extended by were primarily the result of ous month, resulting from (+0.5 percentage point
advance rate at 1.0 per- the domestic commercial an uptick in the transport an expansion in the net to 7.2 percent) and in the
cent, after reviewing the banking sector remained and food components. The domestic assets (+Afl. 81.6 weighted average inter-
most recent economic unchanged (0.0 percent) 12-month core inflation (ex- million) and decline in the est rate on new deposits
and monetary data. The compared to December cluding energy and food) net foreign assets (−Afl. (+0.6 percentage point to
following information and 2017. The decline in busi- reached 0.4 percent, main- 27.2 million). The growth 2.0 percent), when com-
analysis were considered ness loans (−0.9 percent) ly reflecting an increase in in the domestic compo- pared to the previous
in reaching this decision, was countered by growth the housing, education, nent of the money supply month. Consequently, the
based on March 2018 data. in loans to individuals (+0.3 transport, and hotel & res- was mainly attributed to weighted average interest
percent) and other loans taurant components. upturns in domestic credit rate margin on new loans
International reserves (+1.3 percent), resulting in a (+Afl. 73.3 million) and in and deposits declined by
The international reserves zero overall credit growth. Tourism the non-credit related bal- 0.1 percentage point to 5.2
(including revaluation dif- The rise in loans to individu- During the first three months ance sheet items (+Afl. 8.3 percent.
ferences of gold and for- als was mainly driven by a of 2018, tourism indicators million), whereas the drop
eign exchange holdings) surge in housing mortgages development noted up- in the net foreign assets Advance rate
and official reserves re- that was partly countered turns, as growth was regis- stemmed mostly from trans- The CBA’s advance rate
mained at adequate lev- by a decline in consumer tered in tourist arrivals (+4.3 actions associated with the remained unchanged. The
els. Both the international credit. Business loans were percent), visitor nights (+5.0 import of goods, net trans- margin between the CBA’s
reserves (+3.3 percent) and mainly affected by a de- percent), cruise visitor ar- fers to foreign accounts, advance rate and the Fed-
official reserves (+5.3 per- crease in term loans with a rivals (+9.9 percent), and current transfers, income eral Funds rate stood at
cent) recorded growth in maturity greater than two tourism receipts recorded payments, and payments 0.51 percentage point in
March 2018, compared to years. at the commercial banks of other services. This was March 2018. q
December 2017 (Chart1). (+11.2 percent), reflecting largely counter-balanced
Consequently, the interna- Inflation the buoyancy in the U.S. by foreign exchange in-