Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017

144 Stephen Emtage, who served on the Board in that capacity for 15 years, or familiarity with the Bank’s operations, in the case of Winston Cox, who was recruited straight from the Bank’s employ. On the issue of relationships, Sir Courtney has pointed out that he could “…recall no bureaucratic turf battles…” between the Bank and the Ministry of Finance. He recalled that his dealings with Prime Minister Barrow were the most comfortable of all “the first time around”, confessing that “away from official business, I called him ‘Errol’.” He described interaction with Prime Minister Adams as cordial, adding “but I always called him ‘Mr. Prime Minister’.” He also got along well with Sir Stephen Emtage. This reflected, to some extent, the long period of time (almost 15 years) that Sir Courtney and Sir Stephen worked together. Political interference in the day-to-day operations of the Bank was not an issue. According to Sir Courtney “… no candidate has ever been recruited to the Bank’s staff on the basis of party affiliation and no member of staff has ever lost a single hair of his head because of his political preference.” During remarks delivered at his retirement function in 1997, Governor Springer said that Prime Minister Arthur had allowed the Bank to pursue an independent monetary policy. Sir Stephen Emtage, as the A meeting of Ministry of Finance and Central Bank officials.