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

39 THE FINANCES The Central Government’s Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 1971/72 show a provision of $100,000 in current expenditure for the Bank’s establishment. About $3,100 was also provided for capital expenditure. The Central Bank Act provided for authorised capital of $5 million, with $2 million to be paid by Government upon the establishment of the Bank. At the end of 1972, Government had paid up just over $300,000, and met the statutory requirement in full by the end of 1973, with $1.96 million in Treasury Bills and $40,000 in cash. The Bank’s expenses during its first eight months of operation amounted to $96,619, of which about one-third represented outlays on wages and salaries. This expenditure was met by non- negotiable, non-interest bearing securities which were transferred to the Bank by the Ministry of Finance under Section 7(4) of the Act. The Board meeting of February 21, 1974, approved repayment of these advances. The administrative budget for 1973 provided for current and capital expenditure of $1.6 million and $0.6 million, respectively. The major allocations were for the minting of coins ($0.8 million), printing of currency ($0.3 million) and wages and salaries ($0.2 million). During 1973, with the commencement of banking operations and lending to Government, a profit of roughly $376,000 was recorded. Buoyed by the strong growth in income from discounts and interest during the following two years, revenue reached almost $11 million in 1975. Accordingly, despite the increasing wages and salaries bill and interest payments, a profit of $4.4 million and $6.6 million was recorded, respectively in 1974 and 1975. THE NEW BARBADOS CURRENCY One of the major achievements of the Bank during this early period (or any period for that matter) was the issue of the new Barbadian currency. Section 31 of the Central Bank Act gave the Bank the sole right to issue currency in Barbados. To this end, the Board of Directors discussed Chapter 2: The Early Years: 1972 - 1975