Grenada wants commemorative EC$50 note to mark 50th anniversary

by Linda Straker

• Grenada celebrates 50 years of independence in February 2024
• Committee appointed to organise and manage Grenada’s 50th independence celebrations
• In July, ECCB will approve or deny Grenada’s request to print commemorative EC$50 notes

The Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) will in July approve or deny Grenada’s request to print commemorative EC$50 notes as part of activities to observe Grenada’s 50th Independence celebrations in February 2024.

“As part of our Golden Jubilee, I am happy to report that Cabinet has approved and made a request of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, or ECCB, to issue a special celebratory, commemorative EC$50 note to mark Grenada’s 50th year of independence. We anticipate that the ECCB Council, which will be meeting in July, will agree and approve the request,” Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell disclosed during a national address to mark the first anniversary of his administration governing the affairs of the country.

He also announced that a special committee led by Dr Wendy Crawford, which includes a representative from each parish, has been appointed to organise and manage Grenada’s 50th independence celebrations.

“The celebrations will commence in earnest in September 2023 and will span the entire year of 2024,” he said without naming the other members of the special committee.

In his address held in person at the Radisson Hotel Conference room and virtual event, he outlined the achievement of the Government, which was elected to office on 23 June 2022. “Upon assuming office, it was clear that we would have an uphill climb. Key cornerstones necessary for the development of a prosperous nation, such as a robust healthcare system, effective education models, and accessible and reliable digital infrastructure, were woefully lacking,” he said to an audience which included members of the diplomatic corps and senior management of the Government.

The Prime Minister said that a major milestone in this first year was the payment of the retroactive pensions and gratuity, a campaign promise they were keen to bring to fruition as soon as possible.

That retroactive payment was to about 600 former government workers who were disqualified from receiving a government pension because of a law approved by the Parliament and went into effect in February 1985. The matter was challenged in court, and the court agreed that the law was a violation of the workers’ constitutional rights.

In the area of strengthening Relations with International Funding Agencies, Prime Minister Mitchell said that though his government’s ideal vision for Grenada is one where it can support its own development initiatives, they have accepted that the country is not there yet and requires the support of various international lending agencies to meet its obligations.

“A review of our financial standing and the implementation rates on the many projects and initiatives that our lenders entrusted to us to manage was lukewarm at best and, in many cases, utterly shameful. It was not surprising that upon entering office, we were advised by several development partners and funding agencies that Grenada was on the verge of losing major projects, totalling millions of dollars,” he said.

Mitchell, who up to 31 March was the finance minister, said that the administration continues to seek new avenues of beneficial partners for Grenada’s development agenda. “To this end, we have entered a partnership with the Afreximbank to strengthen trade and investment links between Africa and the Caricom Member States, with potential significant funding available specifically to Grenada,” he said.

“We are also at an advanced stage of negotiations with the Saudi Development Fund towards the development of a transformational Climate-Smart Infrastructure Programme; and we intend to join CAF, the Green Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, within the coming weeks,” he informed citizens.