Global Economic Crises Problem For Region (Caribbean)
Global Economic Crises Problem For Region
by Kendal Burton
The Governor the St Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) say the last financial year was a challenging for the organization. Sir Dwight Venner says the global crisis continues to affect the economic and financial systems of member countries. He predicted that the future would not be markedly different.
Sir Dwight was delivering the ECCB’s annual report for 2011/2012 on Wednesday this week. He said the circumstances in Europe and the slow recovery in the United States are cause for concern.
“The financial performance of the Bank was impacted by the global crisis. The Bank realized net income of $11.7m as compared to the previous year’s income of $22.6m. Contributing to this was a reduction in commission income on foreign transactions and lower gains on the sale of securities. As at March 2012, the total assets of the Bank stood at $3.3 billion as compared with $2.8 billion for the previous year. This was mainly due to inflows of grants and loans to member governments from international institutions. Also contributing to this increase was the reinvestment of income on foreign assets and gains on the sale of foreign securities held within the ECCB’s foreign reserve portfolio. The 2012/2013 financial year will be equally challenging as the global environment has not markedly improved…” he said
According to the ECCB Governor, another significant dip in global growth will have serious repercussions on the currency union. He said new economic union arrangements and their successful implementation are critical to the stabilization and growth of the ECCU economies.
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