With the economy on the right footing, something good is in store

The country’s financial institutions have reasons to smile after it was reported that the economy had rebounded after starting very poorly in 2017. This first quarter it has registered a double-figure growth of 10.6 percent thus continuing the growth pace of 10.5 percent in the last quarter. Statistics don’t lie; there is definitely something they tell us about the efforts put in to turn around the country’s fortunes for the better. To understand what that really means, the first quarter of 2017 had registered a growth of only 1.7 but ended up with a respectable annual average growth of 6.1 percent. It is those kinds of figures, conducive business environment and always striving to ease doing business that attracts Foreign Direct Investments. Today one just needs to visit the Special Economic Zone to see the impact of sound economic policies. Although the growth is mostly driven by good performance in agriculture, industry and services, the housing market also performed well and continues to grow, and investors know a good thing when they see one. One of them is an Israeli group that wants to enter the market with a big bang; they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government to build 10,000 housing units, most of them under the affordable housing bracket. But those affordable houses need protection from rich speculators so that mid-level and low-income workers don’t lose out. Financial institutions should therefore get on board early to ease the acquisition so that even the small-salaried can enjoy the fruits of positive economic growth.

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With the economy on the right footing, something good is in store