The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Financial Year ended 31 March 2023.
The ECCB has recorded a net loss of $54.5 million for the 2022-2023 financial year, a $5.4 million increase over the previous financial year.
The deteriorated performance was largely driven by significant losses on foreign investment securities as interest rates in the United States rose dramatically from near zero over the financial year.
The Governor of the ECCB, Timothy N. J. Antoine says the 2023-2024 financial year will be a ‘bounce back’ year for the Bank due to the projected slowdown or cessation of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, and elevated interest rates.
Governor Antoine confirms that, the Bank remains ever-more committed to advancing its strategic goals in support of its member countries, which continue to face an extremely challenging economic and policy environment.
During the 2022-2023 financial year, the ECCB advanced a number of key initiatives, guided by it 2022-2026 Strategic Plan.
Those included: the development of a Payment System Vision and Strategy for the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU); laying the groundwork for the establishment of an Office of Financial Market Conduct; and continued strong surveillance and vigilance, which has resulted in the maintenance of resilience and stability of the ECCU financial sector.
The Bank also captured two prestigious international Central Banking awards: The Green Initiative Award for its Greening of the ECCB Campus Initiative, and the Communication Initiative of the Year Award for the production of its public education programme – ECCB Connects.
Looking ahead, Governor Antoine calls for a ‘Big Push’ across the region.
This ‘Big Push’ he says is a call to implement innovative and transformative policies and initiatives to double the size of the ECCU economy for the benefit of the people of the region.
The elements of the Big Push are: Wealth Creation; Food and Nutrition Security; Energy Security; and Digital Transformation.
SOURCE: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
It is remarkable that Antoine shamelessly places the blame for increasing losses of the ECCB on the manipulated interest rate fluctuations of the federal reserve bank in the US, which is owned and controlled by a cartel of 6 private US banks. What then is the purpose of the ECCB, if not as an ovine steward (in black face) for dollar hegemony in the region? For his part, this house negro accepts dubious awards which do nothing to ameliorate the current living standards & improve future prospects of the citizens in the region.
The region would be better served if Antoine would dump his blatant narcissism and better position the region to take advantage of the freshening east winds of positive change, emanating from BRICS+ initiatives. But, per Upton Sinclair, “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
The first order of business is de-dollarization! The region needs to stop seeing itself as a chronic mendicant, whose only hope for sustenance are the scraps that fall of the master’s (US) table. The most important economic goals involve the development of the region’s human capital. The climate-related programs being promoted by the collective west are completely fake; they are geared towards keeping the region subservient to US, even while the US is committing economic suicide.
Michael Hudson is far more erudite than I in describing this 21st century phenomenon. Here is one of his latest essays:
America has Just Destroyed a Great Empire [Itself]
https://michael-hudson.com/2023/06/america-has-just-destroyed-a-great-empire/
Who is stealing what from ECCB is the question!