Praia, Cape Verde, 11 May – The assets of the commercial banks of Cape Verde more than doubled over the period of a year, to US$101.5 million in march, figures from the archipelago’s central bank have shown.

A report published this week showed that bank reserves in Cape Verde had increased 13.9 percent to US$281.3 million.

The external assets of the Bank of Cape Verde fell by 5.4 percent and net international reserves stood at US$190.2 million in March, 5.2 percent less than in the previous month.

This fall in reserves, which in a year totaled 33 percent, was “fundamentally due to currency sales to credit institutions,” the central bank said.

Internal credit increased by 5 percent in the year and 1.2 percent from February to March, to US$702.2 million.

Also according to the central bank, in March the average annual variation of the consumer price index reached 1.5 percent, increasing 4.7 percent in relation to last year and 0.8 percent as compared to the previous month. (macauhub)