The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has published its 2021-2022 Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2022.
The Report, published on 30 June, reveals that the Bank recorded a net loss of $49.1 million for the year ended 31 March 2022 compared to a net profit of $25.2 million in the previous financial year. The net loss for the year was largely driven by losses on foreign investment securities combined with a decline in interest income earned on foreign reserve assets, as interest rates globally remained at historically low levels over the year.
The Governor of the ECCB, Timothy N. J. Antoine said, “The current state of the global economic and geopolitical environment can be characterised as unprecedented and complex and the economies of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), like the rest of the world, felt the weight of this difficult environment during the 2021/2022 financial year”.
He said, despite the weak global financial environment, which resulted in the ECCB’s first
loss-making year in six years, the Bank continues to manage the reserves prudently thereby maintaining the strength and stability of the EC dollar.
Governor Antoine says that the 2022/2023 financial year opened with even more challenges than the previous year did and this reality will shape the Bank’s direction for the New Year.
He added that the focus on innovation, experimentation and reforms will be ramped up and the Bank will move proactively on several initiatives, including the following:
1. Launch the operations of the Eastern Caribbean Credit Bureau;
2. Develop new data protection legislation for the region;
3. Complete the battery storage component of the Greening of the Campus Initiative;
4. Institutionalise a data analytics function across the Bank;
5. Launch a new ECCB website; and
6. Adopt a new social media strategy.