Reserve Bank statistics

Press, 10 September 1984, Page 28

Reserve Bank statistics

. For the month of July 1984, an overseas exchange' transaction (GET) current account deficit of $271 million was recorded, compared with a deficit of $406 million in the previous month, and a deficit of $159 million for July, 1983, ac-. cording to the latest Reserve Bank statistics. The current account deficit for the month of July was moderated by the repatriaton of receipts, after the devaluation on July 18. This effect was most noticeable on invisible receipts, which grew 47 per cent compared with the same month a year ago. As with June, private import payments were also higher than recent monthly levels, reflecting some early merchandise payments made before the devaluation. During the year to; July the current account deficit was $1869 million, compared with deficits of $1757 million for the year ended June, and $B7B million for the year ended July last year. There was a large net capital inflow of $lOO6 million during the month of July, of which $721 million represented the official inflow and $285 million the private inflow. The private capital inflow was boosted by the devaluation and the removal of interest rate controls which occurred during the month.

Official overseas reserves increased by 51513 million in the month of July and stood at $2977 million at the end of the month.

The • increase :;m.- the reserves is largely attributable : to substantial net official borrowing ($721 million) undertaken over the month to finance the large currency outflow which occurred before the devaluation, combined with a 25 per cent upward exchange rate adjustment ($365 million) to official reserves as at July 18. ■■ ' : • • ■-

Other statistics released by the Reserve Bank last week show .that:

Growth in trading bank lending to ; iridst s&tors glowed in . the year: to August 8, with lending; for all sectors by 16.4 per cent compared with 25.6. per cent in the year to July 11. However, personal lending (both for housing purposes and other lending) has continued to. grow strongly, increasing by' $370 million or 25.4 per cent, while lending to all other sectors, combined . rose by $539 million or 13.2 per cent iin the year to August 8. Building society shares and deposits increased by only $1.2 million (net) in July. In the year to July, their share and deposit growth was 23.7 per cent,,, down from 26.4 per cent in', the June year. • Mortgage lending by the building societies showed a slight rise, from a 19.3 per cent increase in the June year to 20 per cent in the year to July. Average interest rates on trading bank 3-TCD’s month fell by 0.5 percentage points to 14.8 per cent in the week to August 22.