MayReleased on 28 July 2021 | 25 KB

Monetary Policy Data

				May-21	Apr-21	May-20
	Foreign Reserves (TOP million)	689.5	679.7	489.6
	Months of Imports (trade estimate)1	12.0	11.9	8.2r
Months of	Imports (Overseas Exchange Transactions estimate) 1		14.7	14.5	9.7
	Inflation (apc)2
		4.7	4.5	0.1
	Imported (apc)2		7.3	5.6	0.2
	Domestic (apc)2		1.4	3.1	-0.1

Activity Indicators

		Total Credit Growth (apc) 3	-1.8	-1.3	1.7
		Total Outstanding Loan (Ann. Tot $ m)3		486.6	488.1	495.4
		Household (apc)4		-0.2	-0.2	0.0
		Business (apc)4		-3.7	-2.7	3.7
		Exchange Settlement Accounts (TOP million)		277.3	269.6	139.5
		NRBT Notes on issue (TOP million)		0.0	0.0	0.0
		Banks' holding of Govt Securities (TOPmillion)		33.8	33.8	32.9
		Broad Money (M2, TOP million) 5		724.7	712.3	592.2
		Overseas Exchange Transactions 6
		Imports (annual Total, TOP million)		461.9	453.0	416.6
		Imports (apc)		10.9	7.5	-6.3
		Exports (annual total, TOP million)		12.5	12.5	18.2
		Exports (apc)		-31.3	-33.3	-10.3
		Travel Receipts (annual total, TOP million)		21.2	22.2	117.2r
		Travel Receipts (apc)		-81.9	-82.5	-8.2r
		Remittances (annual total, TOP million)7	455.4	447.6	345.8r
		Remittances (apc)7		31.7	29.5	-1.5r

Financial Markets

	Exchange Rate
	USD/TOP		0.4445	0.4401	0.4334
	AUD/TOP		0.5712	0.5697	0.6635
	NZD/TOP		0.6142	0.6160	0.7108
	FJD/TOP		0.8745	0.8706	0.9204
	Nominal Effective Exchange Rate Index 8
		88.28	87.20		94.82
	Real Effective Exchange Rate Index 8		105.46	104.55r		110.33r
	Interest Rates
	Weighted Average Lending Rate (%)9		7.73	7.71	7.81
	Housing (%)		8.08	8.08	8.02
	Business (%)9		7.13	7.12	7.64
	Weighted Average Deposit Rate (%)9		2.00	1.98	2.12
	12-month term (%)		3.96	3.95	4.81
	Savings (%)		2.57	2.56	2.60
	Term (%)9		3.22	3.24		3.49r
Notes:	apc = annual percent change
	1- Methodology used for this calculation has changed in February 2017 to include both imports of goods and services.
	compared to previous publications.
	2- CPI as published by the Statistics Department was rebased in September 2018. The base period of September 2018 = 100.
	3- This series includes total loans from the banking system, including Government Development Loan.
	4- The methodology for calculating this series was updated in August 2014, resulting in revisions to the full history of data.
	5- The methodology for calculating this series was updated in March 2014, resuting in revisions to the data backdating to January 2012
	6- Historical OET data up to May 2014 has been updated with the transition to Balance of Payments Manual 6.
	7- The methodology for calculating this series was updated in May 2015, resulting in revisions to the data backdating to May 2014.
	8- The methodology for calculating this series was updated in September 2013, resulting in revisions to the full history of data.
	9- The methodology for calculating this series was updated to include interest rates and total loans of the Government Development Loans.
	r- Data in previous months may have been adjusted to incorporate revisions.
Prepared by National Reserve Bank of Tonga Economics Department				Last updated	28 Jul 21