The Governor of the Central Bank of Solomon Islands [CBSI] says Solomon Islands seriously needs to focus on increasing the export volume adding the government needs to listen to the exporters as they know best.

Dr Luke Forau said the export sector need more support to facilitate strategies that would see an increase in export of goods and services.

He strongly emphasized that appropriate incentives should be made available to exporting companies to increase volume of products.

“Often times we hear exporters complaining about them not meeting the demand of their buyers.

“This support should include the whole supply chain starting from the farmer (if it’s an agricultural commodity) right up to the exporter.

“Important to note that the agriculture sector hasn’t reach its potential output yet. Therefore, large investments are needed in the agricultural sector,” Dr Forau said.

He stressed that it’s about time that Solomon Islands as a country should start focusing on adding value to exports products by down streaming primary commodities.

“Again, this requires reasonable incentives from the government.

“The country hasn’t had any large investment in the secondary production since the establishments of Soltuna cannery and Palm Oil.

“We must seriously focus on investing in this sector to help boost our GDP.

“When the export sector booms, our foreign exchange earnings also increase – good for the country!

“High exports can also cause the local currency to strengthen,” Dr Forau said.

He continues to say that any sustainable growth strategy for Solomon Islands must rely on the expansion of domestic economic opportunities.

Dr Forau said “It’s important that the government provide a conducive environment for businesses to thrive and attract genuine investors, at the same time expand economic sectors to broaden the economic base in order to provide more employment for the working-age population”.

He said better infrastructure is required to accommodate activities that would boost the country’s economy.

“The Private-sector much needed support is for infrastructure and its maintenance, ensuring also that it is climate resilient, in order to forge more reliable domestic supply chains and facilitate intra- and inter-island movement and trade.

“This is of vital importance for our SMEs – the backbone of our economy – and our new start-ups, our disruptors and innovators, who often require special care and incubation in the earliest stages of operation,” Dr Forau said.

He said CBSI is committed to providing an ever more enabling environment for financial development, and to actively champion financial inclusion as the institution is inch closer to reaching that ‘last mile’.

Dr Forau said the recent technological advances, especially in the fintech space, have brought Solomon Islands closer to that goal than ever before, thanks to increasingly agile payment infrastructures and savings devices.

He said CBSI recently launched the go-live Solomon Islands Automated Transfer System known as the SOLATS, which is a real time gross settlement (RTGS) payment system.

“You may have recently experienced that payment transfers are now instant.

“CBSI aims to ensure every resident of Solomon Islands is finally able to access the financial services they require and deserve at their finger-tips.

“We will also redouble our efforts to improve access to credit, the lifeblood of investment.

“It needs the support of all stakeholders, including the government, the private sector, non-state actors, NGOs, development partners, and all individuals. We all have a role to play in this,” Dr Forau said.

SICCI acknowledges the Governor of CBSI Dr Forau, for the recognition shown towards Private Sector issues with regards SMEs who comprises of Exporters in the agri-business sectors. This will give the private sector the much-needed support to increase its efforts in advocacy for local exporters and work in partnerships with other stakeholders and government to bring about the much-needed change in providing a conducive business environment for business in general to operate in.