ECCB 2016/2017 Annual Report

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ECCB ANNUAL REPORT 2016/2017

MONETARY STABILITY Macroeconomic Surveillance

•  • Participate in technical missions to member states and provide advice on policy matters through the production of Policy Briefs and Sector Briefs; •  • Assistmember governments intheirpreparation for missions of international organisations, e.g. the IMF and The World Bank, and participate in these missions by providing back-up support to the governments and technical advice to the organisations; •  • Prepare joint reports for the member countries using the Financial Programming and Debt Sustainability Analysis Reporting Framework and assist member countries in the preparation and implementation of fiscal and debt management programmes; •  • Collaborate with other regional and international institutions, e.g. the CDB, IMF and CARTAC on projects related to the economic development of the member countries; •  • Monitor and analyse developments for the ECCU, as a whole, in order to promote the establishment of an OECS Economic Union; and •  • Contribute to the development of junior economists in the region through the annual internship programme in collaboration with CARTAC and the University of the West Indies and the De La Rue Programme. Reserve Management The Bank will work with The World Bank to accomplish the following: •  • Upgrade the Investment Policy for management of the Bank’s foreign reserves; •  • Examine the existing foreign reserve tranche structure to determine the optimal tranche structure for the Bank;

The Bank will continue to improve its surveillance framework to meet the evolving needs of its member states amidst a changing global environment. This will involve strengthening its human resource capacity in the requisite areas, and in member countries, through upgrading their diagnostic and forecasting competencies to improve policy prescriptions. Continuous improvements will be made to enhance coordination between and among relevant policy- making institutions by formalising the institutional arrangements across the currency union. Furthermore, strong technical capabilities will be developed through frequent training programmes that improve data interpretation and analysis, critical thinking and problem solving skills. The Bank will also: •  • Conduct meaningful and practical research under three strategic priorities: financial stability; fiscal and debt sustainability; and growth, competitiveness, and employment; •  • Publish scholarly articles and reports on the Bank’s website from the ECCB Working Paper Series and the Economic and Financial Review ; •  • Further its collaborations with regional and international partners on applied research and other projects; •  • Contribute to the Caribbean Regional Financial Stability Report published by the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance; •  • Provide technical support to the member governments in the preparation and monitoring of financial programmes and debt sustainability analysis geared toward fiscal stabilisation and debt management;