The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union-Performance, Progress and Policy Issues

In 1983 the countries of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) set the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). The member states and territories of the ECCB region are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla and Montserrat. Until the inception of the European Central Bank, the ECCB was one of only three central banks in the world and the only one where the member countries have pooled all their foreign reserves, and the parity of the exchange rate has not been changed. This International Monetary Fund paper reviews recent developments, policy issues, and institutional arrangements in the member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), and looks at the ECCB's institutional arrangements, the financial system and its supervision. It is stated that the paper includes a large amount of statistical information that is not readily available elsewhere in a single source.