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

37 Training Since so many of the desired skills were not readily available, training and other types of exposure to work procedures became key factors in the Bank’s development strategy. Indeed, the first administrative budget (for 1973) included an allocation of $21,300 for training. In the words of Dr. Blackman, “We embarked on an intensive and sustained programme of staff development…” Attachments for managers were arranged with the older regional central banks, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, private foreign banks, the Latin American Centre for Monetary Studies (CEMLA) and the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity (BIMAP). Some of the funds for this training were provided by the Organization of American States (OAS). Managers were also given the opportunity to attend important economic and financial gatherings like the Regional Programme of Monetary Studies Conference, meetings of Regional Finance Ministers, Commonwealth Finance Ministers, the World Bank and IMF as well as regional central bank governors. Senior technical staff often attended these high-level meetings. Staff members benefited from training courses in book-keeping, accounts, inventory control and human resource management at BIMAP. During September 1974 the Bank held its first in-house training seminar at the Barbados Hilton Hotel. At these sessions, the governor and heads of department explained the purposes and functions of the Bank to all members of staff. The early training programmes were designed to equip staff to operate in the new environment at a high level of efficiency within a short period. Rahman Mehter’s three-week attachment to the Irving Trust in September 1974 enhanced his ability to prepare the charts which would later make the Bank’s publications and Chart Room (opened on November 21, 1975) so informative. In early 1975, Winston Cox, then a senior economist, attended the course in Balance of Payments methodology at Chapter 2: The Early Years: 1972 - 1975 Abdul Rahman Mehter checking data in the Chart Room.