BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE swift response of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) to return the region to stable growth following the global economic crisis has been praised by one of the region’s most prolific educators and politicians as “essential to regional integration”.
In his visit to the Federation last week, Dominican-born ambassador His Excellency Charles Maynard told SKNVibes that he is pleased with the “immediate and outstanding” actions taken by the bank to avoid any further meltdown of the financial sector in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
“The bank was able to arrest certain tendencies and moved rapidly and professionally. They were able to maintain a certain measure of comfort for people. Although we are not anywhere out of the woods, the bank has played a significant role and in every instance has given an overview of where we are regularly,” Maynard said.
Two of the major policy initiatives undertaken by the ECCB have been the establishment of the Eight Point Stabilization Programme and the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre to establish an economic union.
Together the measures seek to deepen the process of collective action, while at the same time outlining key institutional and fiscal reform strategies for a post-crisis era.
Not only has the bank been able to keep the ECCU’s economies afloat, but according to Maynard it has also gone beyond its remit of addressing financial matters by giving support and resources to Caribbean and OECS integration.
“Let us face it, the leading role of the bank during the financial crisis has taught us that if we were not together, we would have been far worse off. And the only way we can continue to maintain the quality of life, our stability and our perspectives as to where we want to go is to continue pushing this issue of regional integration.
“All of us are microstates even when you put us together and if we did not have a common approach to this, we would not have had this level of survival that we have now. It tells us how we can use these devices of cooperation to enhance and promote other aspects of our life and development,” the Dominican ambassador added.
Maynard, who currently serves as Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Dominica to CARICOM and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as a member of the OECS Economic Union Task Force Committee, praised the ECCB’s governor Sir K. Dwight Venner for his leadership of the institution.
The region’s resilience and cooperative effort to ward off negative effects of the economic crisis are expected to lead the region much closer to regional integration, Maynard noted.
