At the center of a growing economy

Since its inception in 1972, the Central Bank of Barbados has played a key role in managing the country's economic development program and ensuring a sound economic and financial environment.

Marion Williams, governor of Central Bank of Barbados

Over the last 10 years, the Central Bank of Barbados has been able to report stable economic growth, with the only exception being 2001, when 9-11 adversely affected the country's tourism industry.

Central Bank Governor Marion Williams comments, "We have recovered to the extent where we are averaging now at about 3.7 percent growth. While the objective is of course to maximize the rate of growth, we want to do that in a context where the country remains stable so that there are no pressures of overheating."

Indeed, Williams believes that Barbados is currently in a very important phase of its development. "I believe wholeheartedly that we are at a point where we are about to take off into a realm which will define us as a developed country. In recent times there have been structural changes at both the national and the regional levels, which have created a framework for a more rapid expansion. We have seen this in terms of the inflow of investment."

Williams highlights Barbados' international financial sector as an important area of growth, saying "The growth of this sector has been based principally on our double taxation treaties, which we have organized with a number of countries, and that has made the jurisdiction very attractive. In addition, we do sound due diligence on the kind of companies that come here, so I think there is an understanding that Barbados, although it is small, is a well-run jurisdiction, so I think there is a lot of potential in that sector."

Regarding Barbados' regulatory environment, Williams explains, "We have had what is called the FSAP, Financial Sect

Tom Adams Financial Center, which is home to the Central Bank of Barbados and the Barbados Securities Commission.

or Assessment Program, which has been done on Barbados and looks very closely at the regulatory environment. It evaluates how you do things in the financial sector, and not just in the financial sector, but also generally in terms of the regulation of entities based here, and the report was a very good one. I would say that we compared very well with a number of larger and more developed jurisdictions, in fact a number of what I would call first world countries did not get as good an FSAP as Barbados did."

The growing number of well-trained financial analysts operating in the financial sector at a level comparable to much larger financial centers is seen as an increasing strength generating growth in areas such as wealth management.

"There is an increasing level of skills in this area, a number of our professionals have become quite good at managing large portfolios, and the possibilities there are looking very, very attractive," notes Williams.

With respect to China, Williams highlights the benefits of the Barbadian-Chinese double taxation treaty and adds, "I too visited China recently, and I was very impressed with the growth there, by the buzz of activity everywhere, and I do believe that there are tremendous opportunities for collaboration between China and Barbados."

(Shanghai Start 02/01/2007 page2)