News

Foreign reserves at comfortable levels

July 1, 2016 12:31 am

Foreign reserve levels remain comfortable at $1.97 billion up to yesterday.

Reserve Bank Governor and board Chair Barry Whiteside says this is equivalent to 5.5 months of retained imports of goods and non-factor services.

Whiteside highlights that despite the recent uptick in some world commodity prices particularly crude oil and food prices, levels are expected to remain below 2015 benchmarks.

Article continues after advertisement

He says therefore, there is no immediate threat to domestic inflation and external stability at this stage.

Inflation did rise to about 5% in May reflecting domestic supply shortages and temporary price hikes in agricultural products caused by the recent natural disasters but this is expected to ease over the coming months.