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

184 increased and the range expanded, with several noted Caribbean academics making presentations. These included Lloyd Best (from Trinidad and Tobago) as well as G. Arthur Brown, former governor of the Bank of Jamaica, who spoke on Central Banking in the Caribbean at a seminar to commemorate the Bank’s 10th Anniversary. The opening of the Frank Collymore Hall and Grande Salle in 1986 greatly assisted the Bank’s outreach programme by providing spacious, modern on-site facilities. Indeed, the first economic briefing to be held in the new building took place in the Grande Salle on February 4, 1987, with presentations by Dr. Worrell and Mr. Cox. While many of these sessions were in the form of economic reviews and forecasts, over time a variety of subjects were examined during seminars organised by the Research and Bank Supervision Departments, in particular. In time, the Research Department’s Annual Review Seminar became the main avenue for these presentations. Given its commitment to public outreach, the Bank was willing to employ every technique and available opportunity to reach its publics. Over time the format of the outreach changed somewhat and panel discussions became quite popular. They were particularly useful for soliciting a range of views on specific topics, like small business (1987), the VAT (1992) and collective bargaining (1993). So attractive was the panel format that, from 1998 onward, the Annual Review Seminar included a panel discussion organised by the Barbados Economics Society. As the new millennium approached and the Bank responded to the general concern over the date-change problem, it collaborated with other interested parties (Clico Mortgage and Finance, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, PricewaterhouseCoopers) in holding a number of seminars on the subject. With the start of the new century, many of the seminars dealt with international financial developments (See Supporting the International Business and Financial Services Sector in Chapter 5). Other informative topics included Corporate Governance (2003), the CSME (2005) and Open Market Operations (2008).