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| EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK ANNUAL REPORT 2018/2019
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Maintain Sufficient Foreign Reserves to Support the EC Dollar
The exchange rate arrangement remained firmly anchored during the financial year and continued to contribute to economic stability and
confidence of the region. The backing ratio, which represents the amount of foreign assets held relative to the demand liabilities stood
at 99.5 per cent as at 31 March 2019, well above the statutory and operational limits of 60.0 and 80.0 per cent respectively. The strong
backing ratio reflects a faster pace of growth of reserve assets when compared to the growth of the domestic money supply.
Buoyant foreign direct investment inflows and export earning inflows contributed to the growth in foreign reserves. Real economic growth
for the ECCU was estimated at 3.3 per cent in 2018 compared with 1.4 per cent in 2017. Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and St Kitts and
Nevis led the growth pace in the ECCU.
Growth in the ECCU is expected to strengthen further in 2019 to 3.9 per cent but still falls below the regional target of 5.0 per cent.
Downside risk to the outlook is high given the slowdown in global economic growth and growing geopolitical tensions.
Reserve Management
The financial year saw rising yields on shorter-dated debt issued by the United States amid continued increases in the Federal Funds Target
Rate. The Federal Reserve continued its campaign of normalising US monetary policy by raising the policy rate three times during the year.
Notwithstanding the increase in interest rates, the ECCB continued to achieve its foreign reserve investment objectives of preservation of
capital and meeting liquidity needs.
Review and Adoption of a Revised Reserve Management Framework
Following the development and approval of key policy and operational proposals regarding management of foreign reserves in the prior
financial year, the Bank continued to improve the Reserve Management Framework via capacity building provided by The World Bank
Treasury’s Reserves Advisory and Management Programme (RAMP). Key achievements, which the ECCB attained during the financial year,
included:
Development and approval of a foreign reserve money manager framework;
Successful renegotiation of external money manager and custodian fees; and
Increased share of foreign currency reserves under internal management.
Advise Monetary Council on Monetary and Credit Conditions Consistent with the ECCB Agreement
A key responsibility of the ECCB is the production of the Monetary and Credit Conditions Report which serves to advise the Monetary
Council on the status of, and developments in monetary and credit aggregates in the ECCU. As mandated by the ECCB Agreement, three
reports were produced during the financial year. They indicated that growth in monetary liabilities moderated to 3.0 per cent in 2018
compared with 3.5 per cent in 2017. The slower pace in the money supply reflects a general easing in the pace of growth of the narrow
MONETARY STABILITY
Chart 1 - Real GDP Growth ECCU 2006-2020
Chart 2 - Growth Rate of Monetary Liabilities (M2) and Private Sector Credit