The Minister of Finance has Received the Central Bank of Barbados' 2015 Annual Report

The Central Bank of Barbados’ 2015 Annual Report was delivered to Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Christopher Sinckler on March 30, 2016.

In his Governor’s Message, Dr. DeLisle Worrell spoke of the Central Bank’s continued collaboration with the Government. He cited the Economic Policy Review Committee, comprising senior officials from the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, which meets with the Minister of Finance to provide timely updates on economic developments and the island’s fiscal consolidation programme; and the Cash Flow Committee, chaired by Worrell, which meets fortnightly to determine the level of the Central Bank’s intervention in the Treasury Bill market as two examples of this cooperation.

He also mentioned the Central Bank’s April announcement that it would no longer set the minimum savings rate, a decision that completed the institution’s deregulation of interest rates. Structured interest rates for mortgages, loans and other types of deposits had been discontinued previously.

Worrell highlighted several of the Bank’s achievements for 2015, including the publication of the book “Fiscal Sustainability and Debt in Small Open Economies: An Application to the Caribbean”, which provides an alternative approach to determining a country’s fiscal sustainability, and the successful re-launch of its savings bonds campaign.

Worrell also affirmed that the Bank was committed to educating the public about the Barbadian economy, identifying initiatives such as the production of a 13-part television series “Economic Policies that Work: The Caribbean Experience”, his monthly economic letters, and visits by international experts such as IMF Alternate Director for Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean, Michael McGrath; former Governor of the Central Bank of Denmark, Per Callessen; Dean of the New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Dr. Peter Blair Henry; and engineer and venture capitalist, Dr. Nicholas Brathwaite as examples of those efforts.

Audited financial reports in the publication revealed that in 2015 the Central Bank had expenditures totalling $53,536,882 and a gross income of $54,861,317, resulting in it making a net profit of just over $1.3 million. This represents a turnaround from 2014, when the Bank recorded a loss of $7.3 million. According to figures in the report, this profit is largely attributable to an $8 million increase in interest from securities, a $3 million dividend from its investment in the Industrial Credit Fund, and a $1.7 million increase in foreign exchange gain coupled with a $2.2 million decrease in expenses due mainly to a reduction in costs associated with the printing and minting of banknotes and coins.

The Central Bank Annual Report also provides information about the organization’s operations throughout the year under review.

2016-04-06