CBSi Governor Mr Denton Rarawa delivering the CBSI 2016 Annual Report

THE Governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) says the country has survived all unpredicted challenges over the past years till today.

Speaking during the launching of CBSI’s 2016-2017 Report last week, Mr Denton Rarawa said progress that the country made over the years have been overshadowed by many challenges and that little progress have been made economically, politically, and socially.

He explained that most contributing challenges are natural disaster, commodity price stocks, political instability, ethnic tension, rising demand for government services and increased corruption.

Mr Rarawa adds that external challenges are; Asian financial status known as the Asian Financial Crisis and also the global financial crisis.

“Despite these challenges and crisis, business houses, communities, and the government continues to display strong determination and resilience to bounce back from bad financial situation that the country came through,” he said.

Mr Rarawa told those present that the determination provides a motivation for the country in its build up to ensure a resilient environment do exist that would contribute to a vibrant and prosperous Solomon Islands in the future.

“All these experience provides the motivation, this reflects the theme of my speech for 2016-2017 CBSI’s report and the theme is; building a resilience for a vibrant and prosperous Solomon Islands future,” he explained.

Mr Rarawa stressed that building resilience for a vibrant and prosperous Solomon Islands is critically important as the country is expecting a major transition of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, unstainable level of log harvesting and also increase demands for services.

He said people demand for better services has continued to put pressure on the government’s finance and this is where the challenges will continue to risk economic development of Solomon Islands in the future.