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

Chapter 5: Some Notable Developments 231 Needed for an Economic Programme , requesting data on some 25 broad areas. The data requirements for the formal application to the Fund were enormous. To support the request for the Stand-by Arrangement, quarterly projections for the real, financial, fiscal and external sectors had to be submitted along with explanatory statements. Luckily for the Bank the staff already had much experience in making macroeconomic projections. There were also requests for data on specific items like public enterprises or foreign financing. Since Barbados was also applying for Fund resources under the CCFF it necessitated another subset of information including quarterly data on the volume, price and value of exports of major commodities and services (actual and projected), as well as written explanations of major developments and recent policy changes. The local team recognised the need to transmit data to the Fund in a timely manner. It was agreed that all reports on the programme were to be ready by lunchtime each Friday and before being faxed to the IMF, had to be checked by Worrell, Williams and either Haynes or Saunders. In many respects, the discipline and constraints imposed by preparing for the Stand-by Arrangement enhanced the forecasting, technical and negotiating skills of local operatives. The urgency attached to the timely supply of information was often underscored by terse memos fromWorrell to the rest of the team. Finalising the supporting documentation In August 1991, the two sides discussed a draft of the Technical Memorandum of Understanding. This document defined the variables which were proposed for use as quantitative performance criteria and the method and frequency of reporting statistical information to the Fund. The performance indicators, to be monitored on a quarterly basis, included Borrowing by the Non-Financial Public Sector, the overall Government Deficit, the Net Domestic Assets (NDA) of the Central Bank, Medium and Long-Term External Borrowing and the NIR. 115