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

222 An upgrade of the computer system was completed in 2009 with the introduction of its web-based catalogue; the upgrade enabled the catalogue to be accessed through the Bank’s intranet. In addition, the library worked steadily to complete the barcoding of its print collection and launched its own intranet web portal. This provided access to a variety of electronic resources including the EBSCO research services, World Bank databases, as well as electronic newsletters and news services. A new digital library service - Intelli.Net - was launched in 2010. This tool allowed the librarians to offer working papers and papers from the Annual Review Seminar as part of the full text collections. A year later it was upgraded when its search capacity was expanded to search seven databases from a single query. THE BANK’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE 1991-93 ECONOMIC CRISIS Introduction The Central Bank of Barbados is responsible for managing the island’s foreign reserves and safeguarding the value of the Barbados currency. In carrying out this mandate, the Bank encountered its most serious challenge during the early 1990s when there was a severe recession and the country entered a stabilisation programme with the IMF. The Bank was involved in the management of the crisis from start to finish. To quote Governor King, whose term in office coincided with the crisis, “That story has yet to be told…but the Bank…played a crucial and positive role in bringing about the stabilisation of the economy.” The evolution of the crisis The Bank had several mechanisms for detecting early signs of threats to the balance of payments. These were the regular fortnightly