Gambia News : Gambia forecasts good economic growth

Aug 30,2008 00:00 by lamin

Gambia's economy will grow at 6.5% this year, according to data released by the Monetary Policy Committee of Central Bank in Banjul on Friday.

It said this was premised on a strong rebound in agricultural output and the continued growth in the services and construction sectors.

Mr. Bamba Saho, Governor of the Central Bank of the Gambia, told journalists that money supply grew by 8.5% in the year ended June 2008 compared to 12.9 per cent a year earlier.

He said preliminary data on the execution of the budget indicated that total revenue and grants for the first six months declined by 3.6 per cent to D1.9 billion compared to the corresponding period in 2007.

Saho said total expenditure and net lending increased by 13.6 per cent to D2.0 billion compared to the first half of 2007.

He said the inter-bank foreign exchange market continued to be vibrant as volume of transaction measured by aggregate sales and purchase of foreign currency increased by 13.3 per cent to 1.7 billion dollars at the end July 2008.

"The banking system recorded significant asset and deposit growth as well as strong capital base."

Saho said total assets of the banking industry increased to D113 billion or 12.2 per cent from the end June 2007.