The Central Bank of Barbados (CBB) is the national

monetary authority In finance and economics, a monetary authority is the entity that manages a country’s currency and money supply, often with the objective of controlling inflation, interest rates, real GDP or unemployment rate. With its monetary tools, a m ...

responsible for providing advice to the

Government of Barbados The Government of Barbados (GoB), is a unitary parliamentary republic, where the President of Barbados represents as the head of state and the Prime Minister of Barbados represents as the head of government. Structure The country has a bicam ...

on banking and other financial and monetary matters. The Central Bank of Barbados, was established by Act of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

on 2 May 1972. Prior to the establishment of CBB,

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

' monetary policies were governed through its membership in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA). The Central Bank operates as the banknote issuing authority for Barbadian currency. The name of the Central Bank's building is the Tom Adams Financial Centre, which is a ten- storey building located on Spry Street in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Ci ...

. As part of the complex, there is a 491-seat theatre/auditorium known as the Frank Collymore Hall. The building was constructed between 1982 and 1986 and it was opened September 18, 1986. The

Global Competitiveness Report The ''Global Competitiveness Report'' (GCR) is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. Since 2004, the ''Global Competitiveness Report'' ranks countries based on the Global Competitiveness Index, developed by Xavier Sala-i-Martin an ...

for 2008–09 ranked the soundness of Barbados's

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

s as 21st out of 134 global jurisdictions assessed.

Role

At its inception the Central Bank of Barbados had certain objectives. These were: * Promoting monetary stability * Promoting a sound financial structure * Fostering development of the money and capital markets * Channelling commercial bank credit into productive activities * Fostering credit and exchange conditions conducive to the orderly and sustained economic development of Barbados. Today the regulatory capacity of the central bank handles the issuance of Barbadian

banknotes A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

and coins, and licensing of agencies such as: banks, investment businesses, depository trust and finance companies. It also undertakes supervision of Barbadian financial institutions, credit worthiness of the financial system, administering of the international reserves, and reporting regularly to the country on the national finances. The Barbadian economy is reviewed regularly by several notable Wall Street investment firms including:

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

, Standard & Poor's, and

Moody's Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides internationa ...

Organisation

The head of the Central Bank is the governor, who is appointed by the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

. The current governor of the Central Bank of Barbados is Mr. Cleviston Haynes as of January 2018 (he was acting Governor since March 2017). The Bank also has two Deputy Governors in the persons of Mrs. Michelle Doyle Lowe and Mr. Michael D Carrington, both in acting capacities. The CEO is Kevin Gill effective April 1, 2021.

Past Central Bank Governors

*Sir

Courtney Blackman Sir Courtney Newlands McLaurin Blackman, KA (6 March 1933 – 16 March 2021) was a Barbadian economist, international business consultant, and diplomat. He served as the first Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados from 1972 to 1987. At t ...

(founding Governor, June 1972 – March 1987) *Dr Kurleigh King (September 1987 – September 1992) *Mr

Calvin Springer Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvin ...

(September 1992 – September 1997) *Mr

Winston Cox Winston may refer to: Places Antarctica * Winston Glacier Australia * Winston, Queensland, a suburb of the City of Mount Isa United Kingdom * Winston, County Durham, England, a village * Winston, Suffolk, England, a village and civil par ...

(September 1997 – April 1999) *Dr Marion Vernese Williams (April 1999 – November 2009) *Dr

DeLisle Worrell Dr. DeLisle Worrell is a former governor of the Central Bank of Barbados. He served as governor from November 2009 until March 2017. He has also served as executive director of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF). Since June 2018, h ...

(November 2009 – March 2017)

Awards of the CBB

* The Frank Collymore Literary Endowment

References

External links

*
Frank Collymore Hall at the CBBFormer Barbadian banknotes
(historic) {{DEFAULTSORT:Central Bank Of Barbados Banks of Barbados