Tag Archives: financial

GOVERNOR OF THE ECCB PRESENTS 2009 ECONOMIC REVIEW OF THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN CURRENCY UNION

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Basseterre, St Kitts, 22 January 2010
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Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Sir K. Dwight Venner will present the 2009 Economic Review of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) on 28 January 2010 at 8:00 p.m. on radio and television stations throughout the ECCU.

The Governor’s presentation will focus on a review of the global and regional issues that impacted the economic performance of the Currency Union in 2009, the collective response to the global and economic and financial crisis and the way forward, as the region’s leaders and people work together to improve their standard of living and quality of life.

The presentation will be broadcast simultaneously in the eight member countries of the ECCB – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Following the Governor’s review, a cross-section of citizens from the ECCB member countries, linked through video-conferencing technology, will engage the Governor in discussions on the issues arising from the presentation and other issues that affect the economic development of the ECCU.

The text, along with audio and video recordings of the Governor’s presentation will be available on the ECCeecuB’s website (www.eccb-central-bank.org) from 29 January 2010.

Important CARICOM Heads of Government Conference Achieves Significant Progress

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GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA)

The 30th Heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which was expected to be contentious, with migration and intra-regional trade rows threatening to disrupt the discussions, ended last evening with significant progress being made in several areas.

Global Economic and Financial Crisis

Recognizing that several countries in the Caribbean have been adversely affected by the global economic and financial crisis, the Heads of Government have taken the bold step of establishing the first ever regional Task Force of a political nature to find solutions for the region.

The Task Force, which comprises Prime Ministers Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago, Bruce Golding of Jamaica, Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, David Thompson of Barbados and President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana, who will be the Chairman of the Task Force, is expected to be set in motion soon, considering the urgency of the issues it seeks to address.

Additional technical members of the Task Force include the CARICOM Secretary-General; President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Director-General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS); and the Director of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF). The tourism industry in the Caribbean, which is a significant revenue earner for countries such as The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and others, has been decimated with fewer persons around the world travelling, and the financial service sector has been faced with difficulties stemming from the financial meltdown in the developed world and from the failures of the CL Financial and Stanford Groups.

Additionally, the real sectors have been affected by the contagious effect of the global downturn. In response, many countries do not have the budgetary space to conduct counter-cyclical spending to ease the effects of the crisis.

At the closing press conference on Saturday evening, the Chairman of CARICOM, President Jagdeo, stated, “It was recognized that we have to do a series of things but some of them would have to be very urgently done.”

The tasks before the Community are to mobilize the resources necessary to assist these countries and develop medium-to-long-term development strategies to set them on the right path. Earlier Saturday, the President had highlighted two options to obtain the resources needed. The President had stressed that the mobilization of CARICOM internal resources could be pivotal.

“We have significant reserves that are all held outside of the region. I think we have to make sure that we have a policy to invest those reserves. I think we can use our own resources to try to push forward development in our region,” he stated. Continue reading →

Caricom Leaders Must Move The Region Forward Or Pay The Price

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When heads of government of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) meet in early July, a big responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Guyana’s President Bharat Jagdeo as chairman to heal the wounds that are causing the regional project to haemorrhage.

President Jagdeo will have to dig deep within himself for the diplomatic skills that will be necessary not only to suppress his own annoyance over recent events in CARICOM, but also to guide his colleague leaders to practical measures that will fix the rifts between them and set the Caricom ship upon an agreed course of further progress that benefits all.

All other CARICOM leaders will have to contribute to the healing process by showing a high level of maturity in their discourse with each other and by eschewing a desire for purely short-term national advantage in favour of longer term gain for all.

The economic prospects that CARICOM countries face are deeply troubling.  Addressing them at every level, especially international bargaining, calls for a united CARICOM, not a fractious one. Continue reading →

OECS Should Establish Joint Regulator: G20 Should Help

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The members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) should move to establish immediately two separate bodies to regulate domestic non-bank financial institutions and the offshore financial services sector.  In turn, these new bodies should work closely with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).

Financial problems in the member states of the OECS, posed by the CL Financial Group headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago and the on-shore and off-shore banks of R Allen Stanford located in Antigua, have underscored the vital importance to the economies of these countries of strong supervision for both non-bank financial institutions, such as insurance companies, and the offshore financial services sector.  The problems will worsen in the coming weeks. The IMF has warned the OECS that “waning economic growth after a period of rapid private credit expansion poses a major risk to the stability of the banking system”. Continue reading →

Opportune Time for Deeper Integration Says OECS Chairman

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Published  Friday 20 March 2009

CASTRIES, St Lucia:

OECS Chairman, Prime Minister Tillman Thomas of Grenada feels the current global economic downturn makes now an even more opportune time for small countries like those in the OECS to strengthen ties and work closer together.

Thomas delivered the feature address at the March 3 launch of public consultations in Grenada on the OECS Economic Union. He told the large crowd at the open air ceremony along the Carenage in capital city St Georges, the time is also opportune for the region’s people to become fully involved in accelerating the process of deeper integration.

Grenada joined Montserrat, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia in launching public awareness campaigns on the draft treaty on economic union for the OECS. Other Member States are expected to join the process shortly. Continue reading →