National Reserve Bank of Tonga

The equipment was gifted to NRBT on behalf of Australia’s Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), who are currently conducting a number of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism capacity building initiatives to Financial Intelligence Units in the Pacific Region.

The video conferencing kit includes a laptop, software and other equipment

Photo supplied      

Following the previous month’s decline, the reserves fell by $6.7m (US$2.9 million) to $685.7m (US$305.9 million), equivalent to 11.7 months of import, according to the National Reserve Bank of Tonga.

The decline in the Foreign Reserves was due to an increase in import payments during the month.

However, the Governor of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga, said that that annually, the Foreign Reserves had increased significantly by $228.2m (US$101.8 million). “This is mainly attributed to receipts of budget support, official grants, and remittances.”

The Board of Directors of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga decided to continue with the current measures at its meeting last week.

According to central bank, this is to encourage utilization of the excess liquidity in the banking system, through further lending to growth sectors and to support the economy from the impacts of COVID-19.

The monetary policy rate will be maintained at 0% (zero interest rate policy), minimum loans/deposit ratio of 80%, Statutory Reserve Deposit ratio at 10%.

Other measures are: