Friday, during a press conference, Charles Castel, Governor of the Central Bank, accompanied among others by Jean Badden Dubois, Director General of the BRH, wanted to be reassuring face the concerns of the market on an accelerated depreciation of the gourde, which is currently trading at 47 Gdes for 1 US dollar and fears that the devaluation of our currency, reach 50 Gdes by the end of the year.

Charles Castel assured that the dollar will not reach the 50 Gdes by the end of the year "Nothing justifies expectations of this kind at the level of the depreciation, since the month December corresponds not only to an increase in transfers from the diaspora and also to a lull in the forex market [...] We are very far from the accelerated depreciation that could constitute an obsession for economic agents," stating that due to the macroeconomic situation and that of BRH, no index or indicator allow to see such a possibility.

He held to recall "[...] we started 2014 with an exchange rate of 46 gourdes per dollar. Today, the rate is 47 Gdes, or a depreciation of about 2% [2.18%]," a devaluation he considers "in the order of acceptable phenomena."

Recalling that the central bank is financially strong with gross reserves of 1.9 billion dollars (about 5 months of imports) and net reserves of $970 million he wanted to reassured the public that the central bank was vigilant and had taken a series of measures to counter the depreciation of the gourde.

To this end, in the space of two months, the Bonds of the BRH increased from 4.9 billion to 9.2 billion Gdes (4.3 billion additional input). Also the rates on BRH Bonds (7, 28 and 91 days) who had passed on October 1 to 4, 5 and 6% switched today to 5, 6.5 and 8%.

With respect to the sale of foreign exchange, the Governor stated that the BRH had sold for $35 million (1.6 billion gourdes) in addition to the 4.3 billion Gdes of the Bonds. Explaining that this accumulation of Gourdes in banks, is beginning to have a positive effect on the exchange rate, adding that the latter decrease with these measures from 47.15 Gdes to the sale to 47 Gdes for 1 US dollar.

He also announced the issuance soon of a Bond,

a right, that will be sold directly to the public, together with local banks. Finally, in addition to these measures, the Governor of the BRH has urged the authorities to do everything possible to increase the production in the country, which would reduce imports that destabilize the exchange rate and the trade balance.

PI/ HaitiLibre