BY NED GAGAHE
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended that Solomon Islands Government commences review of the Constituency Development Fund.
This was highlighted by a team from IMF who have recently visited the country to conduct and presented a preliminary finding on the 2023 IV Consultation held with stakeholders in Solomon Islands last month.
Team leader of the group Masafumi Yabara was asked during a press conference if IMF have now concerned after repeatedly recommending the Solomon Islands government to review the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Act.
“Yes, you are right we have been recommending the reform of the CDF in a couple of years.
“I see the government is aware of the issue.
“They are really trying to address the issue – the review of the CDF Act, so that establishment of regulation under the Act, so that we support their efforts and we hope it would materialize in the near future.” Mr Yabara said.
Meanwhile, Yabara also said that the trade structure in Solomon Islands is also changing because China has become the dominant trader partner in the last decades.
Yabara said because of that Solomon Islands needs to review the exchange rate basket for which Solomon Islands dollars is pegged with other trading currencies.
“So that is the part of the reason why we recommend the review of the exchange rate. We need to see to what extent the current basket reflects the trade structure.
“We are recommending the review of the basket to confirm that the composition in in line with the trade structure. For now, we are not recommending changing the basket.
