Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017
Chapter 5: Some Notable Developments 181 Speeches and addresses by Governors With the passage of time, the Bank’s governors were presented with a variety of ways by which they could communicate the institution’s views or comment on topical issues. They received invitations to speak to non-profit organisations, graduating classes, openings of new commercial banks or new branches of banks, as well as on radio and television discussion programmes. As the longest-serving Governor, Dr. Blackman got the lion’s share of the opportunities for public speaking. His first address was to the Junior Chamber of Commerce on July 19, 1972, where he dealt with the Bank's role in the economic development of Barbados. By 1982, when the Central Bank was only 10 years old, he had given enough speeches to publish in a volume entitled The Practice of Persuasion . Governor Williams was also a prolific speaker and in 2005 published her collection of speeches, Strategic Re-positioning: A Caribbean Perspective on Policy-Making . Traditionally, the first group that the Governors addressed (usually in the first quarter of the year) was the Life Underwriters of Barbados, later re-named the Barbados Association of Financial Advisers. Many of the concepts which Governor Blackman explored in his early addresses were not original, but they excited the imagination of local audiences who were often hearing them for the first time. Several of the issues he raised gained more prominence as time progressed. For example, his address to the annual general meeting of BIMAP in July 1976, pointed to the need, inter alia , for local businesses to have a sound capital structure. In time, the undercapitalisation of small businesses would become a major focus of strategies to revitalise the export sectors. Given the nature of the Bank’s core business, most of the speeches and addresses by governors focused on monetary and financial issues. Openings of commercial bank branches or gatherings of commercial bankers were popular occasions for articulating the Bank’s monetary policy or commenting on the importance of the banking sector.
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