Pulling Together in the Eastern Caribbean

The Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency Union (OECS/ECCU) is one of four currency unions in the world. 

As in other parts of the world in the aftermath of the global economic and financial crisis, the region is at a crossroads, facing the major challenges of creating jobs, making growth more inclusive, reforming the banking system, and managing volatility, while grappling with high public debt and persistent low economic growth. Policymakers have the critical task of implementing strong reforms to strengthen the monetary union while also laying the foundation for accelerating growth. 

A new handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of the key issues in the OECS/ECCU, including its organization and economic and financial sector linkages, and provides policy recommendations to foster economic growth.

In an interview with IMF Survey magazine, economist Alfred Schipke, who is one of the authors, points out that, while the recent global financial crisis exposed significant weaknesses in the ECCU, it also provides a unique opportunity to move forward with needed reforms to strengthen the union.

Schipke recently co-edited The Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency Union: Macroeconomics and Financial Systems, which was launched at IMF Headquarters in Washington, DC. IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu, in his opening remarks, reflected on the challenges facing small island economies, particularly with loss of market share in the tourism industry, the mainstay of the economy in most of the island states. 

He said that the IMF and its partners can do a better job in helping the region to further push macroeconomic, as well as structural, reforms, and noted that the new book would help in providing a framework for developing solutions to the ECCU’s financial sector problems and stimulating economic growth.

Tailored Approach to Managing Public Finances

A new book by the IMF--Public Financial Management and Its Emerging Architecture--looks at reforms introduced by governments over the past two decades to improve management of public finances. These innovative ideas and reforms are changing the landscape of public finances and eventually aim to fundamentally change the way governments manage the public’s money.

The global financial and economic crisis highlighted the importance of sound public financial management in ensuring that well-designed fiscal policies are implemented effectively. Sound management of public finances means maintaining a sustainable fiscal position, allocating resources efficiently, and delivering public goods and services effectively.

The book looks at how reforms to public financial management make use of new information, processes, and rules to change the behavior of politicians and public servants to counter the ongoing challenges of managing government’s money. As identified in the book, too often the tendency for policymakers is to spend rather than save in good times; to focus on the short term; and to ignore the future costs of new policies, underlying fiscal risk, and the true state of public finances.

“The global crisis has highlighted that reforming governments’ management of public finances is no longer an option but a necessity. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution—reforms need to be tailored to countries’ individual circumstances,” said IMF Deputy Managing Director, Min Zhu, who addressed officials, journalists, and academics gathered at a special seminar to discuss the findings in the book.

IMF Survey article 

Book launch and Seminar on Public Financial Management and Its Emerging Architecture

Background and comments

Currencies -- the Role of the Dollar

University of California Economics Professor Barry Eichengreen discusses what factors could lead to the rise or fall of the U.S. dollar and the future of other international currencies.

Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System, by Barry Eichengreen, Oxford University Press.

Book discussion at the IMF:

Discussants --

Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director
James Boughton, Fund Historian, Moderator
Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Ted Truman, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute
Isabelle Mateos y Lago, Advisor, Strategy, Policy, and Review Department

IMF Survey magazine report of the book discussion

Eichengreen’s new work challenges the view of inertia in the international monetary system, arguing that the dollar overtook the pound sterling in just one decade following the formation of the U.S. Federal Reserve. As such, the system can evolve quickly. Like the dollar one hundred years ago, once the prerequisites are in place, currencies of economies that are large and important in global trade and finance can internationalize rapidly.