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| EASTERN CARIBBEAN CENTRAL BANK ANNUAL REPORT 2018/2019
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money supply which moderated to 6.8 per cent in 2018 from 10.7 per cent in 2017. Credit extension to the private sector was unchanged from 2017, but remained favourable given the falling lending rates and
high levels of liquidity in the financial sector. Consequently, the Monetary Council decided to maintain the Minimum Savings Rate at 2.0 per cent and Discount Rate at 6.5 per cent to maintain the Exchange Rate
Peg at EC$2.7 to USD$1.
Plan to Maintain a Strong and Stable EC Dollar
Strength and stability must be measured to determine progress. In this regard, the Bank continued to compile and release the External Sector Statistics (ESS) during the reporting period. Given the implementation
of the IMF Balance of Payments Manual, Sixth Edition (BMP6), there were two releases of the ESS during the year. The statistics for 2016 were released in September 2018, while the data for 2017 were released
at the end of March 2019. Both series were disseminated with forecasts up to 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The Bank also held discussions with the External Sector Statistics Adviser at the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) on the possibility of back-casting the series to make information available
for research and policy purposes. Currently data are available for the period 2014 to 2017, with projections for 2019 to 2020. Work on the development of the country-specific metadata to support the compilation
of the External Sector Statistics in the ECCU is ongoing.
MONETARY STABILITY