QUARTERLY BULLETIN 2004 - II December 1, 2004 Issue no. 72 Correspondence related to this report should be addressed to the Economic Policy Department of the Centrale Bank van Aruba J.E. Irausquin Boulevard 8 P.O. Box 18 Telephone: (297) 5252-100 Telefax: (297) 5252-101 Website: www.cbaruba.org E-mail:
[email protected] © 2004 De Centrale Bank van Aruba The information contained in this report may be published and copied for educational and noncommercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. ISSN: 0920-9905 CONTENTS I. Developments in the second quarter of 2004 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The real sector 1 - Business Perception Index - Partial Economic Activity Index - Tourism - Construction - Utilities - Oil sector - Merchandise trade - Price developments 1.3 Money and credit 6 - Changes in the money supply - Interest rates 1.4 Nonmonetary financial institutions 7 - The balance sheet - The mortgage market 1.5 Government finance 9 - Financial operations - Outstanding debt 1.6 Balance of payments 11 - Overall outcome - Oil sector - Free-zone sector - Rest of the economy II. Notices and articles 2.1 A reflection of perseverance and resilience 17 Address by R. Henriquez, President of the Centrale Bank van Aruba, on the occasion of the official opening of Aruba Bank’s new head office, November 20, 2004 2.2 De betalingsbalans van Aruba in 2003 21 Een artikel van E.E. Matos-Pereira, econoom bij de afdeling Economisch Beleid 2.3 The economy of Aruba from a real sector perspective 32 An article by J.R. Ridderstaat, Economist at the Economic Policy Department III. Statistical annex I.