2019-2020 Annual Report and Statement of Accounts

FISCAL AND DEBT SUSTAINABILITY

Chart 3 - Value of Bonds and Treasury Bills Offered on the RGSM (EC$000s)

Track member countries performance related to fiscal and debt sustainability and share information with member countries and other stakeholders The Bank partnered with the IMF Institute for Capacity Development and the CARTAC to host a seminar on Macro-economic and Debt- ustainability Analysis. The objective of the capacity development activity was to strengthen the macroeconomic/debt sustainability analyses of the ECCB and its member countries to support the economic policy making process. During the training, participants were exposed to a simplified Excel-based toolkit of the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Framework. The template has a medium-term projection horizon, thus allowing for the analysis of debt dynamics towards the 2030 ECCU debt target. The Bank is committed to further training in this area for member countries as it would assist them to better integrate debt sustainability analysis more systematically into their policy making framework; which should inform their annual budget preparations. A follow-up training was scheduled for April 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Improve the functioning of the market for government securities (RGSM) The deepening and broadening of the RGSM continue to be critical areas for the Bank. One of the initiatives undertaken by the Bank to improve the functioning of the RGSM during the financial year was the launch of the Public Debt and Market Information Web Portal in July 2019. The Debt Portal will help investor relations in the ECCU by providing member countries with a platform that would serve as a “one- stop shop” for timely and accurate fiscal and public sector debt statistics and other related information such as debt legislation and recent publications. The portal is dedicated to debt management activities and will help to meet the information needs of investors, licensed brokers, credit rating agencies, regional and international institutions and academia. The ECCB also continued to provide assistance through the review of prospectuses, administration of the auctions and facilitating investor payments to support the issuance of government securities on the RGSM. Performance of th e RGSM The number of securities offered on the RGSM increased by 27.2 per cent to 70 during the year, from 55 in the preceding year. The value of securities offered increased by $189.9 million to $1.5 billion. That expansion in activity on the RGSMwas due to the increase in bonds offered, which rose by $408 million to $1.1 billion. The increased activity was witnessed across the five Member Governments which participate in the RGSM – Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The Bank also supported the member countries in their investor relations programme through the publication of an article in the annual magazine of the Caribbean Insurance industry and a presentation at the annual OECS Credit Union Conference in Saint Lucia.

Chart 4 - Value and Number of Securities Offered on the RGSM (EC$000s)

Browse ECCU Public Debt and Market Information Web Portal

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