Prime Minister King confident of sub-region's sustained growth as World Bank officials meet OECS Heads
|
|
|
Contact: Shannon Lebourne
Friday, October 1, 2010 – Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Honourable Stephenson King, has expressed optimism that OECS Heads of Government will put the region’s economies on a path of sustained development, despite unprecedented difficulties.
The prime minister was speaking at the launch of consultations between the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and the World Bank.
Mr King told the high level meeting that the region’s governments have implemented a number of strategies to fashion the Currency Union for futuristic benefits.
“We have crafted a number of related areas, a common legislative framework related to financial, currency and administrative matters. We have established supervisory mechanisms and structures for the preservation of the financial integrity of the region and we have improved our analytical and collaborative systems relating to financial and statistical issues whilst embracing private sector perspectives in our effort to improve our collective knowledge base. All those achievements serve to strengthen the foundation from which we can now launch an interrelated range of initiatives to take us to the next stage.”
He advised that the consolidation of gains made thus far is necessary as the region seeks to design an integrated strategy for sustainable growth and development.
The Saint Lucian leader told the grouping that one of the most critical questions facing the region relates to the financing of developments.
“At a time when countries are under pressure to reduce the high debt ratios, when external savings are becoming increasingly hard to come by, and both financial and private accounts are over-burdened, how is development to be financed? Where are the savings and investment resources to come from? What will the strategies for mobilizing and applying them to the development effort? It is necessary to consider our path to sustainable growth and development in the context of the economic integration of the Eastern Caribbean countries.”
Mr. King says he is hopeful that through the consultations with the World Bank and the ECCU, the Heads of Government can arrive at workable solutions to facilitate sustained growth and development of the member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.
|
|
© 2010 Government Information Service. All rights reserved. Read our privacy guidelines. |
