BY JOSES SAREN
Prime Minister Matthew Wale has slammed high interest rates and unnecessary fees in the banking systems as ‘morally wrong’, given the significantly high excess liquidity in the sector, and calls on banks to reduce them.
Speaking at the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) Golden Jubilee celebrations, Mr Wale said the high rates and fees affect businesses, households, individuals, and the productive capacity of the economy, a statement from the PM Press Secretariat yesterday said.
In his address, Wale emphasised that weak monetary policy transmission “cannot be accepted as a permanent condition, nor explained as simply the nature of a small island economy”.
He adds that “it is a problem that demands active and determined solutions”.
Wale said the Central Bank must be solution-oriented and willing to take considered risks in the public interest, adding that being anchored in a core mandate is not the same as being passive with it.
“I call on the leadership of CBSI to ask, at every turn, whether their decisions are genuinely reaching the people they are meant to serve and if they are not, to act decisively to meet the needs of our people,” Wale said.
The Prime Minister added that price stability, financial system soundness, and support for national development “are not boxes to be ticked”.
But he also acknowledged that the Central Bank cannot do it alone.
“That courage, however, cannot be exercised in a vacuum. It depends on something equally essential and that is partnership,” he said.
Photo credit: PM Press Secretariat
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