BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – STABILITY of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union’s (ECCU) financial sector and sustaining growth in a post-crisis period will top the agenda at this week’s meeting of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB’s) Monetary Council.
The Monetary Council, which is the highest decision making body of the ECCB, will bring together Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance from each ECCU Member State at the body’s 66th meeting slated for this Friday (Mar. 5) in Basseterre, St. Kitts.
The meeting comes almost eight months after its 65th meeting held in Dominica last year. At that sitting, the 2008/2009 report of the Governor of the Central Bank was presented. It addressed monetary and credit conditions, while also providing directives and guidelines on fiscal policies to meet the needs at that time.
According to a press statement released by the central bank, this week’s meeting is expected to address similar matters. The Monetary Council is scheduled to receive reports from its three Ministerial Sub-Committees.
Council member for St Vincent and the Grenadines, Hon. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, will make a presentation on behalf of the Ministerial Sub-Committee on Insurance Business, which seeks to find a resolution to the insurance sector crisis in the ECCU. Hon. Harold Lovell, Council Member for Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Ministerial Sub-Committee on Offshore Business, will report on the progress made in seeking the speedy signing of Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs).
Additionally, the Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cooperatives, chaired by the Hon. Roosevelt Skerritt of Dominica, will report on its progress to seek the speedy enactment of modern legislation for effective regulation in the cooperatives sectors of the ECCU.
The meeting comes days before ECCU territories are scheduled to meet the deadline set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to meet the minimum required number of TIEA’s.
This meeting will be the first Monetary Council meeting for St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas since he assumed the office of Minister of Finance last month.
