{"id":243818,"date":"2025-07-20T09:27:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=243818"},"modified":"2025-07-21T06:59:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T10:59:06","slug":"communique-of-the-111th-meeting-of-the-monetary-council-of-the-eastern-caribbean-central-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/communique-of-the-111th-meeting-of-the-monetary-council-of-the-eastern-caribbean-central-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Communiqu\u00e9 of the 111th Meeting of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Communiqu\u00e9 of the 111th<\/sup> Meeting of the Monetary Council of the<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank<\/strong><\/p>

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Issued: 18 July 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The One Hundred and Eleventh (111th<\/sup>) Meeting of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) was held on 18 July 2025 at the Boat House, Barbuda Ocean Club, in Antigua and Barbuda<\/a><\/strong>, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Antigua and Barbuda, Honourable Gaston A. Browne.<\/p>

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The Council welcomed Premier Cora Richardson-Hodge to her first meeting as the Monetary Council member for Anguilla, following general elections in Anguilla in February 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. MONETARY STABILITY<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Monetary Council received the Governor\u2019s Report on Monetary, Credit and Financial Conditions in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union<\/em><\/strong> (ECCU)<\/em>.  The Reportprovided global and ECCU updates on monetary, credit and financial conditions and assessed their potential impact in the near to medium term.  The Governor\u2019s Report<\/em> indicated that:<\/p>

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    1. The global economic environment has become considerably more uncertain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Against the backdrop of an anticipated decrease in global trade, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has trimmed projections for 2025 global economic growth to 2.8 per cent from its earlier projections of 3.3 per cent (April 2025 IMF World Economic Outlook Report). <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Energy prices are expected to moderate in 2025 due to weaker global demand.  That said, energy prices are always susceptible to geopolitical developments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. ECCU economies have demonstrated marked resilience in the face of current and emerging global challenges. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. The EC currency remains strong: the Backing Ratio <\/strong>(also known as the ratio of foreign assets to demand liabilities) is 97.5 per cent<\/strong>\u2014significantly above the 60.0 per cent statutory requirement. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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      Source: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.<\/strong><\/p>

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      Foreign Reserves stood at EC$5.5 billion as at
      11 July 2025<\/strong> \u2014up from EC$5.4 billion as at 11 October 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n