ECCB 2015/2016 Annual Report

EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK

g. Risk and Capital Adequacy: A Preliminary Examination of ECCU Indigenous Banks; h. Towards a Policy on Foreign Direct Investment Within the Context of the OECS Economic Union; i. Implications of Recent Mergers and Acquisitions for the ECCU Telecommunications Sector; j. Survey of the ECCU Real Estate Market: The Case of St Kitts and Nevis; k. The Role of Brazil in Regional Trade; l. Will the Legalisation of Marijuana Worldwide be a Boon for the Regional Agricultural Sector? An Exploratory Analysis; m. An Analysis of Labour Markets in the ECCU: A Policy Perspective; n. Sovereign Wealth Funds: A Model for Citizenship by Investment Programmes in the ECCU; o. Developing an Index of Tourism Competitiveness for the ECCU; p. Furthering Agricultural Development Through Information and Communication Technologies; q. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development: Is It Really a Matter of Finance?; r. Monetary Policy Transmission: How Has Quantitative Easing Impacted the ECCU?; s. Network Topology of the Payments System; and t. The Effects of Fiscal Consolidation on Short Term Growth in the ECCU. The Bank participated in two external conferences during the year: the 35 th Central Bank of Barbados Review Seminar, and the 47 th Annual Monetary Studies Conference organised by the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF). A paper titled: Towards a Policy on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Within the Context of the OECS Economic Union, was presented

at the Central Bank of Barbados Review Seminar. The paper examined the broad foreign direct investment policy framework of the ECCU member countries and highlighted some of the key deficiencies. Further, it endorsed the need for a more holistic approach to FDI including closer integration with the key sectors of the economy as well as greater regional coordination and harmonisation of FDI policies. A study on Risk and Capital Adequacy: A Preliminary Examination of ECCU Indigenous Banks was presented at the Annual Monetary Studies Conference. The paper examined and found a positive relationship between capital levels of indigenous commercial banks and risk, pointing to the need for the Central Bank to conduct closer examination of banks’ portfolio changes. Two volumes of the ECCB Working Paper Series were published on the Bank’s website. The first volume featured a paper on the topic: The Role of Brazil in Regional Trade . The second volume was a Special Edition Working Paper Series, featuring the work of the 2015 University of the West Indies summer interns. The papers in the volume are: (i) Modelling Tourism Demand From Major International Markets: The Case of Antigua and Barbuda; (ii) Crowdfunding: Its Potential for Stimulating Financial Development in the ECCU; (iii) Measuring Productivity of Commercial Banks in the ECCU: A DEA-Based Malmquist Index Approach; and (iv) The Effectiveness of Fiscal Consolidation in Achieving Debt Reduction. E conomic S urveillance The main objective of economic surveillance is to monitor developments in member territories and disseminate macro data and information via the publication of quarterly reviews and annual reports.

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ECCB A nnual R eport 2015/2016