ECCB 2017-2018 Annual Report and Statement of Accounts

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ECCB ANNUAL REPORT 2017/2018

Research papers for 2018/2019 will include: •  • Optimal Level of Reserves for the ECCU; •  • Use of a Portion of ECCB Reserves to Promote Economic Development; •  • Establishment of a Growth and Resilience Fund for the ECCU; and •  • Economic Impact of Crime The Bank with continue to work with ECCU Central Statistics Offices and development partners to advance statistics in the ECCU. Some of the ongoing and future projects include Quarterly GDP, International Comparison Programme (ICP) and Household Budget Expenditure and Survey of Living Conditions and the GDP Rebasing Exercises. Training for staff will also be a priority in 2018/2019, commencing with the Project for the Regional Advancement of Statistics in the Caribbean (PRASC) national accounts training in April 2018. Routine assignments will include data management and dissemination, conduct of the Business Outlook surveys and compilation of national accounts and external sector statistics. The Bank will also embark on an exercise to back-cast the External Sectors Statistics so that policy makers and researchers can have historical data available, using the Balance of Payments Manual version 6 (BPMv6) concepts and methodology. Currently data using BPM6 are only available for the period 2014 to 2016 with projections for 2017 to 2019. Another External Sector Statistics project would be to develop country-specific metadata to support the compilation of the External Sector Statistics in the ECCU.

Improve the Functioning of the Market for Government Securities The Bank will:

•  • Design and launch an ECCU public debt website to provide up-to-date information on public debt in the ECCU, including the RGSM; and •  • Provide technical assistance to the issuing governments on the RGSM in the development of an Investor Relations Programme.

GROWTH, COMPETITIVENESS AND EMPLOYMENT

Actively Promote the Economic Development of Our Member Territories Support the OECS Commission in the Continued Refinement of the OGDCs and Implementation of an ECCU-Wide Economic Development Plan Growth and Resilience Dialogue At the conclusion of the second Growth and Resilience Dialogue, 16 deliverables on the four thematic areas were incorporated into the Draft Action Plan, which will be developed further during national consultations. Implementation schedules for the next two years will be finalised and preparation for the third Growth Dialogue will be formulated from lessons learnt from the 2018 Growth and Resilience Dialogue. Refocus the Research Agenda to Address Growth The Bank will remain committed to improving its surveillance framework to meet the evolving needs of its member states, amidst a changing global environment. This will be demonstrated by sustained research efforts, frequent engagement with member countries and the continued strengthening of its human resource capacity within the Bank, and in member countries.