“Bali meeting was successful”

Central of Bank of Solomon Islands Governor, Denton Rarawa was pleased with the fruitful outcome of this year’s Board of Governors Meeting.

Mr Rarawa led a Solomon Islands delegation to the meeting convened in Bali, Indonesia early this week with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, IMF, senior management.

A Government statement said important issues raised and discussed with the World Bank and IMF senior management include; the request for Government budget support from the World Bank in 2019, upgrading of the Honiara International Airport and Tina River Hydro Project.

It added, other key thematic issues- connectivity infrastructures, climate change and natural disasters, human capital index were part of the agenda.

Future investment programs to encourage new sources of growth in the country were also discussed at last Sunday’s meeting

On the engagement with IMF management, Mr Rarawa confirmed, discussions centered on the outcome of the economic and fiscal assessments, from Article IV Consultations that was held in the country in July.

These include; the Solomon Islands Debt Sustainability Report that was also released by IMF at the annual meeting, with the Article IV Report that will be discussed by the IMF Board in late November, as well as areas for continuous technical assistance for CBSI and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

Meanwhile, Governor Rarawa is also fully satisfied with the outcome of meetings with Senior Executives of the Crown Agent Bank of London as well as Senior Officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on correspondent banking services.

He said a correspondent banking relationship with the Crown Agent Bank of London should be established by the end of the year, despite efforts to derail the process by certain people.

Mr Rarawa also issued a statement at the plenary of this year’s Board of Governors Meetings on behalf of nine Pacific Islands Countries.

On the international front, the CBSI Governor also confirmed that high on the main issues discussed at this year’s meeting is the trade war between the United States and China.

He pointed out that this issue needs to be closely monitored since the outcome of the trade war on the Chinese economy will affect the Solomon Islands economy as China is an important export market for our logs.

Mr. Rarawa promised, his staff and officials from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury will work with the World Bank Group and IMF to progress key decisions agreed to at the Meetings in Bali.