The 100-percent rise in the reserves of hard currencies required by the latest Monetary Board resolutions will make dollar transactions more expensive, according to Hector Linares of the Listin Diario. This will wither transactions of hard currencies, which accounted for nearly 50 percent of all ongoing loan transactions. Another factor likely to probably shrink the dollar transactions is the passive interest rates of 28 to 30 percent on Central Bank certificates. A reduction of interest rates on dollars and a rise in the rates on peso deposits will maintain the trend that began a few weeks ago, said Linares. Until September of 2002, the dollars deposited to commercial banks were the equivalent of nearly half the value of all pesos deposited (49.84%). This figure was up from 41 percent in 2001. The new Monetary Board measures require that banks keep 20 percent of their hard-currency deposits as ?reserves?, thus limiting their ability to dispense loans in dollars. The dollar-loan portfolio had previously reached US$1.8 billion and as much as 39 percent of the total peso deposits.