THE Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) is tight-lipped over the continuous media reports that the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) is soon to dry up as Government is seeking additional funds to keep it running.
As understood, all Government accounts are with CBSI meaning it is the bank to the Solomon Islands Government.
This paper is seeking confirmation and comments from CBSI whether the media reports on ESP account running out are true or not but the bank remains tight-lipped.
“You will have to go by what the Government finance mouthpiece, which is the Permanent Secretary (PS) and Minister are saying at the moment,” CBSI responded yesterday.
This paper also understands that PS and Chairman of the ESP Oversight Committee McKinnie Dentana also denied the reports during the radio talkback show on Sunday.
He said that most recent information regarding ESP is basically false and does not reflect the state of affairs.
Meanwhile, he assured the public that the funds under the ESP are still available and payout for the remaining recipients will continue.
The ESP funds according to the PS come from the bilateral donors’ support and resources that the government raised domestically.
By ANDREW FANASI
Newsroom Honiara
