Over August, the balance of the overall OET recorded a deficit of $1.5 million following a surplus recorded last month. This stemmed largely from higher payments for services and import purposes. Find out more in the Overseas Exchange Transactions report for August 2018.

Over the month of July 2018, the total banks lending grew by 1.2% to $452.9 million, after recording a slight decline last month. Lending to both businesses and households increased over the month with business lending contributing the most. Read more in the Banking Sector Developments report for July 2018.

Sectoral performances in the local economy were mixed over the month. Total agricultural export volumes rose by 432.5 tonnes, reflecting the commencement of the squash season and higher export of root crops. On-going construction activities continued to boost performance in the secondary sector, supported by a rise in business loans for construction and individual housing loans.

Over August 2018, total remittances increased by $1.5 million (4.9%) to $31.6 million. This mainly reflects the higher receipts from families abroad for church contributions, funeral expenses, and support towards other family and household matters. Read more in the Remittances Report for August 2018.

Over the month of July 2018, the balance of the overall OET recorded a lower surplus of $7.7 million following the high surplus recorded last month. Over the year, the overall OET surplus balance rose by $26.1 million to $67.6 million. Find out more in the Overseas Exchange Transactions report for July 2018.

The total remittances for July 2018 continued to remain above $30 million. However, this is a slight decrease from the previous month of $0.7 million given minimal declines in private transfers and compensation of employees. Read more in the Remittances Report for July 2018.

Sectoral performances in the local economy were mixed over the month. Total agricultural export volumes rose by 432.5 tonnes, reflecting the commencement of the squash season and higher export of root crops. On-going construction activities continued to boost performance in the secondary sector, supported by a rise in business loans for construction and individual housing loans.

The total vehicle registrations declined over the month of June by 90 registrations (23.0%), recording a total of 301 registrations. This is higher than the monthly average of 231 vehicles in the past five years. Read more in the Vehicle Registration report for June 2018.

The registrations of new vehicles increased over the month for all types of automobiles which indicates strong activities in the transportation sector during May 2018. The total vehicle registrations rose over the month by 145 registrations (58.9%) Read more in the Vehicle Registration report for May 2018.

The total volume of agricultural exports declined over the month by 39.3 tonnes (8.3%) due to the seaonality of local produce and the damages of cyclone Gita on root crops in February 2018. Read more in the Agricultural Exports Volumes report for June 2018.

The total exported marine products significantly rose over the month by 73.1 metric tons to a total 81.4 tonnes. This was attributed to foreign fishing vessel which returned with their catch for export. Read more in the Marine Exports Volume for May 2018.

The Reserve Bank expects the volume of fisheries export to decline in the near term due to less foreign vessels with higher operation capacity which are available to fish the Tongan waters. Read more in the Marine Exports Volume for April 2018.

The total aquarium exports increased by 84.0% over the month of June 2018. Higher exports over the month was due to a rise in all types of exported aquarium products which includes invertebrate, live hard and soft coral, shellfish and live fish. Read more in the Marine Exports Volume for June 2018.

In June 2018, the balance of the overall OET recorded the highest surplus since January 2013 of $26.8 million. As a result, the official foreign reserves rose to a record high of $468.7 million, which is equivalent to 7.9 months of import cover. Find out more in the Overseas Exchange Transactions report for June 2018.

The total remittance receipts for June 2018 remained above $30 million at $30.5 million. The events during the month like the annual church conferences contributed to maintain the high remittances level in June. Read more in the Remittances Report for June 2018.

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