The weak global demand and absence of major natural disasters so far this year has helped us contain inflation which was registered at 1.9 percent in July. In the absence of any major price shocks we expect inflation to be around 3.0 percent by year-end. Foreign reserves have increased annually since 2009 and have helped boost confidence in our financial system.
As of yesterday, reserves held with the Reserve Bank were above $ billion, a historical high and sufficient to cover 5.2 months of retained imports of goods and non-factor services. Ladies and gentleman, the numbers are coming together for us and I have not seen them this good for a long time.