Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has reported that the country’s preliminary gross official reserves amounted to E8.6 billion at the end of August 2023.
The CBE said this amount was reflecting an improvement of 4.2 per cent from July 2023 and 19.0 per cent year-on-year. It was reported that the increase in reserves mainly emanated from purchases of foreign currency from local banks over the month under review. The reserves were, therefore, enough to cover 2.7 months’ worth of imports of goods and services, higher than the 2.6 months covered in July 2023. It was further mentioned that valued in special drawing rights (SDR), the reserves contracted by 0.5 per cent month-on-month, whereas year-on-year grew by 5.5 per cent to reach SDR343.3 million at the end of August 2023. On another note, the central bank reported that credit extended to the private sector reached E18.3 billion at the end of July 2023, higher by 0.8 per cent month-on-month and 9.7 per cent year-on-year. Accounting for the increase was credit to other sectors of the domestic economy and businesses. Credit to households and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) on the other hand, contracted.
Credit extended to other sectors accelerated by 2.3 per cent month-on-month and 25.1 per cent year-on-year to close the month under review at E1.1 billion. The improvement was supported by credit to other financial corporations, which grew by 15.4 per cent to reach E742.5 million. Credit to public nonfinancial corporations and local government, on the other hand, fell by 21.9 per cent to E253.8 million and 6.3 per cent to E60.5 million, respectively. The CBE reported that credit extended to households and NPISH closed the month under review at E8.1 billion, reflecting a contraction of 0.3 per cent month-on-month and growth of 1.7 per cent year-on-year. The month-on-month reduction was driven by other personal (unsecured) and motor vehicle loans, which receded by 1.0 per cent to E3.0 billion and 0.7 per cent to E1.0 billion, respectively. Mortgage loans, on the contrary, improved by 0.3 per cent to close the month under review at E4.1 billion.
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