THE Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) says none of the claims made in an article local journalist Alfred Sasako penned in the Island Sun newspaper is true.
Sasako had claimed the United States Government had “blocked” Solomon Islands from using its US dollar account, effectively shutting the country off from all international transactions.
He claimed this was in retaliation to the Government’s recent decision to switch ties from Taiwan to China.
But in a statement, CBSI said the article is seriously misleading and could unnecessarily undermine the confidence of the general public in the financial system and potentially damage investors’ confidence in doing business here.
“CBSI never received any formal information regarding a shutdown of the US dollar account
from the United States Government nor the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FEDNY),” the statement said.
“CBSI assures the general public that none of the claims made in this particular article is true and believes the claims could be related to individual customer issues when making transactions that could be resolved by the service provider,” it added.
It said all licensed financial institutions and authorized foreign exchange dealers in Solomon Islands are operating as normal and have confirmed their business as usual.
“CBSI is calling on all news organizations, media reporters and publishing companies to be more responsible in their work and verify facts with regards to any information of this nature with the Central Bank.
“The media industry must do this before publishing for public consumption.
“This is critically important to avoid spreading of misinformation to the general public given and avoid the potential to harm the reputation of Solomon Islands and the economy.”
The US Embassy in Port Moresby also denied the claims in the article.
A spokesman, Chad Morris, told the Solomon Star the US Government does not have such policy.
