By: Kemo Kanyi
Hon. Buah Saidy, governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, has disclosed that the domestic foreign exchange market of the country remains stable with improved liquidity conditions.
Speaking on Tuesday at the last press briefing of the Monetary Policy Committee on the fiscal year, he stated that the total activity volumes, measured by aggregate purchases and sales of foreign currency, stood at US$479.4 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to US$563.0 million reported in the previous quarter.
“The quarter-on-quarter decline in activity volumes partly reflects the moderated inflows of private remittances, from US$201.4 million in the second quarter of 2024 to US$182.5 million in the third quarter of 2024,’’ Governor Saidy explained.
He added that the exchange rate of the Dalasi remains relatively stable.
He further revealed between June and September 2024, the Dalasi depreciated against the US dollar by 0.3 percent, the euro by 3.1 percent, the British pound sterling by 3.3 percent, and the CFA franc by 1.2 percent, stating that this was largely explained by the excess demand pressures to finance the rising imports.
The Gambia’s apex bank governor stated that his bank continues to hold comfortable levels of international reserves, amounting to US$460 million in October 2024, which is sufficient to finance over 4.6 months of prospective imports of goods and services.
Governor Saidy stated that the preliminary estimates of government fiscal operations for the first nine months of 2024 indicated an overall deficit, excluding grants, of D12.8 million (8.9% of GDP), higher than a deficit of D11.2 million (7.8% of GDP) recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.
“Similarly, the overall budget deficit, including grants, also widened to D6.8 billion (4.8% of GDP) in the first nine months of 2024, compared to D5.8 billion (4.0% of GDP) in the corresponding period of 2023,’’ he pointed out.
