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

70 conducted an inspection of the National Bank of St. Vincent and hosted four inspectors from the Central Bank of Haiti for training in the field and in the preparation of reports. The Bank’s strategic external alliances were extended beyond the Caricom region when, in March 1985, Barbados joined the Latin American Export Bank (BLADEX) as a Class A shareholder. 42 The Bank purchased the 294.6 shares needed for membership for US $200,000 (roughly half the normal price) from Banco Ambrosiano Andino, which was going into liquidation. Membership in Bladex was intended to provide a medium-term source of credit to finance exports, including capital goods. The Bank also deepened some existing links. In August 1983, the Bank convened a meeting of regional bank inspectors to discuss some matters of common interest. Later that year it was elected to the Board of the Latin America and Caribbean Bank Inspectors and after holding observer status for many years the Bank, in April 1986, also became a full member of the grouping of Central Banks of Latin America and Spain. Other initiatives spoke to the Bank’s public persona. The Bank, in 1977 and 1982, used the occasion of its fifth and tenth anniversaries to showcase its work and entertain its publics. Its support for culture and the arts was exemplified by the construction of the Frank Collymore Hall and the Grande Salle as well as the introduction of activities like the annual Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lecture (in 1976) and the numismatic programme. (See section in Chapter 5 on Public Relations). DEFENDING THE EXCHANGE RATE: SOME EARLY CHALLENGES During the period of consolidation the Bank took definitive action to protect the foreign reserves and, in so doing, defend the exchange rate of the Barbados dollar in 1977 and 1981/82. While both cases underscored the vulnerability of the domestic economy to external