BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Feb.19.2018 – THE OECS Monetary Council is projecting that economies within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) will grow by a relative 2.2 percent this year.
That projection follows a modest 2.3 percent growth for last year, according to the Council which wrapped up its 90th Meeting in Basseterre on Friday.
The Council’s Chairman, Dominica’s Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit told reporters that the body was informed that the Currency Union would have grown by a slower rate of 2.3 percent in 2017, owing to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September.
In addition to the slow economic growth, Skerrit stated that the fiscal surplus for the ECCU was estimated to have narrowed in 2017, due in part to the increased expenditures following the passage of the hurricanes.
The Federation’s Prime Minister, Dr. Timothy Harris explained that the 2018 projected growth is modest when taking into consideration the challenges that countries are still dealing with from 2017.
“As of now, it is the best estimate that one can make at this time. These figures are likely to be revised as we move through the respective quarters,” stated Dr. Harris. “And we would see for example, how well member states that were disadvantaged as a result of the hurricanes; of how quickly they move to recovery and construction efforts.”
Coming off the recovery efforts, the Prime Minister noted that officials can be more or less optimistic about the outcome of the growth figure.
“This is basically an average; so you are going to have some countries doing better than some and others not do so well as the 2.2 projected.”
Governor, Timothy Antoine, in response to SKNVibes News said that they are hopeful that they can do better than the projected 2.2 percent.
He explained that some of the impacted countries will implement a number of Capital Projects, and when those come on stream will have a bearing on the rate.
“Keep in mind, that when we do these projections we do at least three revisions: we do the preliminary, the revised and the final.”
