Mousa Gibril Bala Gaye, Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs, has said that The Gambia government, in its quest to eradicate poverty, would continue to develop sound macro-economic tools and polices in order to hedge the most vulnerable people from its devastating impact.

In a statement read on his behalf by Ida Gaye, deputy permanent secretary at the department of state for finance and economic affairs, SoS Gaye said that The Gambia, in December 2007, had reached HIPC completion point, which had made available substantial resources for the country in its effort in combating poverty.

"For four consecutive years, that is 2003-2007, The Gambian economy grew, on average and in real terms, at a rate of 6.4 percent. And growth is now projected to reach a robust 7 percent in 2008. Development in the financial sector has also been significant, leading to greater contribution of this sector to economic growth and development," he said.

According to him, the financial sector is considered as an important factor for growth, but its performance in most African countries over the past years has been less satisfactory.

"Our financial system remains largely underdeveloped, both in terms of size and range of financial instruments, and the service they offer.

Despite some of the financial sector reforms undertaken by African countries, our financial system still exhibits substantial degree of inefficiencies in their functions of saving, mobilisation and allocation of resources into productive activities", he said.

The finance and economic affairs sos noted that on the key manifestation of financial system is the high interest rate spread, which is a symptom of lack of competition and of inefficient management, resulting in high operating costs in the banking sector.

According to him, The Gambia government recognises this factor clearly and this, he went on, had been amply reflected in the 2007 budget speech.

"My department of State applaud the approach taken by GCCI and their counterpart, IFC, for their efforts in creating this forum," he said.