Chairmanship of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) will be transferred to the Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Council Member for the Commonwealth of Dominica during the official Handing Over Ceremony on 21 July at the Office of the President, State House, Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica.

Prime Minister Skerrit will succeed the Outgoing Chairman, the Honourable Gaston Browne, Council Member for Antigua and Barbuda. 

The Monetary Council is the highest decision making authority of the ECCB and comprises the eight Ministers for Finance of the ECCB member governments.  Chairmanship of the Council is rotated alphabetically each year among the eight ECCB member countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Following the Handing Over Ceremony, the Council will convene for its 88^th Meeting where it will receive the ECCB Governor’s Report on Money and Credit Conditions in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.  Following the meeting, the new Chairman will host a media conference where he will present the Communiqué, and along with other members of the Council, field questions from the media in the Commonwealth of Dominica.

The Ceremony will be streamed live on the Bank’s YouTube Channel - ECCB Connects.

Chiefs of Security from Central Banks across the Caribbean have been challenged to embrace change, grow leadership capacity and deepen regional cooperation. 

Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Timothy N. J. Antoine issued that challenge as he addressed the opening of the 5^th Annual Conference of Regional Central Banks Security, which was held at the ECCB Headquarters, St Kitts and Nevis from 29 June to 1 July.

The conference was held under the theme: Greater Efficiency Through an Integrated Regional Central Bank Security Network: “The Expanded Role of Central Bank Security”.

Governor Antoine advised the Central Bank Security Chiefs that regional cooperation was particularly critical at this time given that central banks are faced with increasingly complex and fast changing challenges.

In delivering the key note address, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Croft, Head, Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP), Antigua and Barbuda, echoed the Governor’s call to deepen regional cooperation and urged the security chiefs to resist acting on their own and to develop a culture where they seek information from and share information with their various counterparts in other jurisdictions.

During the two-day conference the participants engaged in discussions on cyber security; the role of security in Enterprise Risk Management; the importance of competent leadership; internal threats that central banks face and measures required to counter these threats.

The participating Central Banks were:

1. Centrale Bank van Aruba
2. Central Bank of Bahamas
3. Central Bank of Barbados
4. Central Bank of Belize
5. Central Bank of Curacao and Saint Maarten
6. Bank of Guyana
7. Banque De La Repulique D’Haiti
8. Bank of Jamaica
9. Central Bank of Suriname
10. Central Bank of Trinidad &Tobago
11. Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has recorded a net profit $6.3 million for the 2016-2017 financial year.

The Bank’s Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2017, characterises the 2016-2017 financial year as “a year of recovery”, with operating income increasing from $61.0 million to $77.5 million representing a 27.07 per cent increase over last year. 

Governor, Timothy N. J. Antoine who marked his first year in office in February, says the Bank’s profit is a particularly welcomed development after three consecutive years of losses.

Governor Antoine describes the ECCB’s 2016-2017 financial year as, “highly successful with several highs and one major low”, that low being the passing of former Governor, the Honourable Sir K Dwight Venner, in December 2016.

The other key achievements of the ECCB for the year include:

1. maintenance of the stability of the EC dollar;
2. advancement of projects to improve access to financial services by medium, small and micro enterprises;
3. orge of consensus on a Plan of Action for addressing growth, competitiveness and employment in the ECCU;
4. launch of a country outreach programme to deepen the ECCB’s engagement with its member governments and stakeholders; and
5. the finalisation of a Strategy Plan which sets out the vision for the Bank for the next five years.

In the new financial year, the ECCB will focus on:

• maintaining the stability of the EC dollar;
• working with member governments to raise growth from 2.2 per cent in 2016 to 3.0 per cent in 2017, with the aim of moving towards 5.0 per cent per annum;
• advancing work on financial sector stability and development initiatives including; the Eastern Caribbean Asset Management Corporation, the ECCU Credit Bureau and the Eastern Caribbean Appraisal Institute;
• launching of a new and improved website; and
• launching and implementing the Bank’s Strategic Plan.