June 2020 Economic and Financial Review

June 2020 Economic and Financial Review DOMESTIC EONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

External Sector Developments

ECCU Domestic Credit

EC$M

EC$M

Developments in the ECCU’s external

8000.0

9,500.00 9,600.00 9,700.00 9,800.00 9,900.00 10,000.00 10,100.00 10,200.00 10,300.00 10,400.00

7000.0

accounts indicate that the merchandise trade

6000.0

5000.0

deficit preliminarily narrowed by 21.9 per

4000.0

3000.0

cent to $2,821.7m in the first half of 2020,

2000.0

1000.0

attributed to a 21.1 per cent fall in import

0.0

18 Q4 19 Q1 19 Q2 19 Q3 19 Q4 20 Q1 20 Q2

payments, which far outpaced a 13.4 per

To Households

To Businesses

Total Domestic Credit (DMC)

cent decline in export receipts. The

Notwithstanding the estimated decline in

improvement in the external balance

economic performance at the ECCU level,

reflected similar developments in all eight

indicators tracked show that liquidity in

countries, as a combination of lower crude

the commercial banking system remained

oil prices, travel restrictions and disruptions

at a satisfactory level. At the end of June

in commercial activity all contributed to

2020, the ratio of net liquid assets to total

lesser import payments. Consistent with the

deposits stood at 47.4 per cent, well above

decline in total arrivals, gross travel receipts

the 20.0 per cent established minimum and

more than halved to $1,701.5m from a gross

slightly higher than the level of 44.7

value of $3,612.7m in the first six months of

recorded at the end of 2019. While data on

2019.

non-performing loans was not available for

ECCU Visible Trade

EC$M

3000.0

all member countries at the time of writing,

2000.0

the ratio of non-performing loans to gross

1000.0

loans for a number of member countries

0.0

-1000.0

showed signs of deterioration, reflecting the

-2000.0

adverse impact of the pandemic on

-3000.0

18 Q1 18 Q2 18 Q3 18 Q4 19 Q1 19 Q2 19 Q3 19 Q4 20 Q1 20 Q2

borrowers.

Total Exports

Total Imports

Trade Balance

11