Minister of Finance and Treasury Harry Kuma says the decline of logging in the country will affect government economy.
Speaking in parliament yesterday, the minister said logging industries in the country continues to be one of our key export commodities.
He said logging accounts for more than half of our total export earnings, and 16.5 percent in the government revenues.
He said although logging remains the life line of Solomon Islands economy, it’s contributions to growth is expected to continue decline over the medium term as logging export move to more sustainable levels.
He said like a tourism sector, the logging industry was also severely affected by Covid-19. This can be seen as log volumes dropped by 34.1 percent to 0.6 per 8 million cubic in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year of around 1.0 million cubic.
He said there are continues to heighten uncertainty about impacts on trade for the second half of 2022.
“The total volume of log exports for 2022 is expected to be contained to around 1.7 to 1.8 million cubic metres as the Covid-19 had affected and slow down log ship and log demand from world market,” he said.
He said the changing dynamics of the tuna fishery and tuna trade on the back of Covid-19 impact and the brand dominance in the trade.
By FOLLET JOHN
Solomon Star, Honiara
