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Throughout 2021, the Central Bank of Barbados was involved in a number of initiatives and activities both related to its core objectives of maintaining Barbados’ fixed exchange rate and promoting financial stability; and more broadly to supporting and promoting the arts, education, and culture.
This article, the second in a four-part series, looks back at some of the Bank’s activities and initiatives over the past 12 months. Read parts one, two, and three here.
October saw the premiere of CBB 101, a new series that explains what the Central Bank of Barbados does, why it does it, and how it impacts the average Barbadian.
Using the Bank’s two objectives – maintaining the peg and promoting financial stability – as its starting point, the series featured interviews with officers from the Bank explaining the importance of international reserves and how they are used to maintain Barbados’ fixed exchange rate, and the Bank’s role in monitoring and supervising the local financial services sector. Other episodes focused on how local and international requirements related to anti-money-laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) affect the average Barbadian and new developments in the local payments landscape. The final episodes of the series are expected to air in January.
The Bank welcomed Professor Esther Duflo, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, as the guest for its 41st Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lecture event.
In late November, the Bank issued a limited-edition commemorative coin to mark Barbados’ 55th Anniversary of Independence and its transition to a parliamentary republic.
The.999 silver coin, which is engraved with the words "Celebrating the 55th Independence and National Day November 2021," features the image of the Pride of Barbados flower in 24 carat gold on the front and the Coat of Arms on the back.
In December, the Bank issued a $125 million treasury note. The note, the first issued since the 2018 debt restructuring, had an interest rate of 4.25 percent.