ECCB 2023-2024 Annual Report

EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK ANNUAL REPORT 2023 - 2024

C ountry O utreach P rogramme The Bank resumed its Country Outreach Programme in 2022, and continued to engage the ECCU publics in 2023: the Commonwealth of Dominica in May 2023 and Antigua and Barbuda in June 2023. Those two visits culminated the 2022 – 2023 cycle across the eight ECCB member countries. The Outreach missions were framed by presentations focused on building resilience for growth sustainability. They set the tone using the international economic environment, which was largely influenced by the geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East. These challenges, juxtaposed with regional developments, not only presented threats to the sustainability of the Region, but also opportunities for the individual countries. Additionally, the presentations provided updates on reforms at the Bank and country level. The mission team engaged numerous stakeholders from various sectors and used the opportunity to solicit the support of the publics in mitigating strategic risks through, inter alia, expeditious passage of critical financial sector legislation. The Bank reiterated its clarion call for collective action, a requisite for actualising the theatres of transformation for the ECCU. Conversely, stakeholders were able to seek clarification on some policy issues and shared their concerns with the ECCB team. Some issues brought to the fore were: banking sector fees, financial literacy and inclusion, increasing cost of basic commodities and services, energy security and intra-regional transportation. Those areas will feed into the Bank’s ongoing policy and strategic work.

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