Bridgetown - Aug. 17, 2012 - The principal impact of the weak economic environment on the Barbadian financial sector continues to be anaemic loan growth across the sector. Commercial banks and other deposit taking institutions remained profitable and well capitalised, although there continues to be some deterioration in credit quality.

Bridgetown - July 18, 2012 - Today Standard and Poor’s (S&P) announced that it had lowered Barbados’ foreign-currency credit rating from 'BBB-/A-3' to 'BB+/B'. The downgrade says to the investment community that Barbados' foreign debt has become more risky, which is manifestly not the case.

July 12, 2012 - The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) will contribute £7.25 million to expand a citizen security program designed to reduce crime and violence in high-risk communities in Jamaica, the Inter-American Development Bank announced today.

Feb. 17, 2012 - Council was apprised that the macroeconomic and financial conditions of the ECCU economy continued to be impacted by the slow economic recovery in the advanced economies. Consequently, as small open economies, the ECCU remained vulnerable to these external shocks.

Bridgetown - Nov. 23, 2011 - On November 18, 2011, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) affirmed its BBB-/A-3 local and foreign-currency sovereign credit ratings on Barbados.  However, the outlook has been revised to negative from stable. 

Miami -- Nov. 16, 2011-- The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) released today the first regional survey about environmental, social and corporate governance sustainability of banks in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kingston -- Nov. 9, 2011 - The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has released a discussion paper on institutional arrangements for safeguarding financial stability, which outlines proposed amendments to the BOJ Act to vest the bank with overall responsibility for financial stability, through a Financial Stability Committee.  

July 12, 2011 - Domestic economic conditions maintained a positive momentum over the review period, supported by steady gains in tourism output, foreign investments in tourism related construction activity and public sector capital projects.

St. John's -- June 23, 2011 -- Finance and Economy Minister the Honourable Harold Lovell has questioned the apparent subjectivity of the recent ranking of Antigua and Barbuda by the private business and financial publisher, Euromoney.

Port-of-Spain -- June 10, 2011 - The economic environment in which financial institutions in Trinidad and Tobago operated for most of 2010 and into early 2011 was relatively sluggish.

May 29, 2011 -- Measures to strengthen regional oversight of the Caribbean financial system were high on the agenda of a May 27 meeting of central bank Governors of Caricom countries,  Aruba and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The meeting agreed on arrangements to produce a Caribbean Financial Stability Report by December 2012, under a project financed in part by the Inter-American Development Bank and coordinated by the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance.

March 18, 2011 -- Addressing economic challenges and enhancing regional trade and cross-border infrastructure will be the focus of the upcoming meeting of Finance Ministers of the Americas and the Caribbean on March 25-26 in Calgary, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, confirmed.

Basseterre -- Dec. 20, 2010 -- (CUOPM) – The European Investment Bank agreed to provide a US$ 8 million line of credit to the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis to ensure continued availability of public and private sector finance during the financial crisis.

October 5, 2010 --The East Caribbean Financial Holding Limited (ECFH) of Saint Lucia, parent company of Bank of Saint Lucia Limited, has reached agreement with the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sole shareholder of the National Commercial Bank (SVG) Limited on the privatization of the Bank.

July 8, 2010 -- The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s Annual Report for 2009/2010 has forecast a bleak economic outlook for St. Kitts and Nevis, and its fellow OECS member countries.