by Linda Straker
- Grenada Credit Union Co-operative League’s 2024 investment conference held at Trade Centre
- ECCB invested over US$2 billion in US markets
- Monetary Council reduced threshold to enter regional securities market to EC$500
Dr Timothy Antoine, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), has announced that as part of its strategy to encourage more trading on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE) among small/individual investors, the Monetary Council recently agreed to reduce the financial threshold to enter the market.
The Monetary Council is the highest decision-making body of the ECCB. It is responsible for providing directives and guidelines on monetary and credit policy matters to the bank. The Monetary Council is comprised of the Finance Minister from each of the 8 participating governments, and meets 3 times a year to receive the Governor’s Report on monetary and credit conditions and to give directives and guidelines on policy.
“I want to see more of you participating in the regional securities market. Right now, when we look at the regional securities market, which is where the governments issue treasury bills, what do we find? 98% of the investors are institutional investors,” Dr Antoine said while delivering the feature address during the opening ceremony of the Grenada Credit Union Co-operative League’s 2024 investment conference at the Trade Centre.
“That means social security, banks, credit unions, insurers, only 2% are individuals. We need to fix that, so our governments, through the Monetary Council, took a decision recently to reduce the threshold to enter that market from EC$5,000 to EC$500,” he told the participants who responded with loud applause.
“And they went a step further and made a recommendation to say that for certain bonds and treasury bills issued, the governments will earmark a portion for small investors, which means that you cannot be muzzled out, crowded out… by the institutional investors,” he said.
“We made the move, now you need to respond,” said Dr Antoine, who has been the Governor of the ECCB since 2016. “We want to create enablers, to remove the barriers to give you access, and to make sure that you can benefit in the same way a typical American does and in the same way our families in the diaspora.”
He disclosed that investing in the US markets has become a source for generating wealth not just for American citizens, but those who have migrated from small nations like those in the Caribbean.
“Our families routinely invest in the markets,” he declared. “Why should we be different? And by the way, ECCB your central bank, invested over US$2 billion in the US markets. Essentially, we are making a loan to the USA government,” he disclosed to the conference. “The reason why we have to do that is we have to hold US dollars, because the US is our major trading partner. We need foreign exchange to buy imports and because most of the debt of our member countries, about 85% are denominated in US dollars, so we have to hold US dollars.”
Held under the theme “Financial Empowerment through Wealth Creation: Investment Opportunities in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU),” the one-day conference had participants from credit unions, trade unions, insurance companies, non-financial cooperatives, law firms and other private sector organisations.
These participants gained enhanced knowledge of regional investment avenues and networking opportunities. The Investment Conference 2024 was sponsored by Sagicor Asset Management, UTC Global Balanced Fund Limited, Bank of St Lucia, Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited, and Beckles and Regis Consultancy.
