7 Sep 2012

Solomon Islands' foreign reserve reaches US$500m

6:02 pm on 7 September 2012

The Central Bank of Solomon Islands says the country's foreign reserve has reached the US$500 million mark this week.

Speaking to the Solomon Star newspaper, the Governor of the Central Bank Denton Rarawa says this marks a significant jump in reserves over the past year from US$370 million.

Mr Rarawa says the current foreign reserves are made up of 1-6 month deposits, gold holdings and investments in foreign government bonds.

Monetary statistics released by the bank show that the main sources of foreign reserves are exports of goods and services, donor funding, government and private sector borrowings from overseas and capital funds.

Mr Rarawa says the increase is a result of increase production of goods for exports such as logs and others as well as continued receipts of donor funding.