timothy n j antoine : launch of the grenada commemorative circulation $ 50 note remarks by mr timothy n j antoine, governor of the eastern caribbean central bank, at the launch of the grenada commemorative circulation $ 50 note, grenada, 5 february 2024. * * * introduction g is for gold and g is also for grenada. on this glorious evening in golden grenada, the eastern caribbean central bank ( eccb ) offers heartiest congratulations to the government and people of grenada on the celebration of your golden jubilee – the 50th anniversary of independence. let me hasten to say that i bring you spicy greetings from the management and staff of eccb, and especially the grenadians who work at eccb and the grenadian community who reside in st. kitts and nevis. frankly spoken, many of them would love to be home at this time. to my fellow grenadians at home and abroad, i say happy golden jubilee! i offer my highest praise to almighty god, " for it is in him, we live, and move and have our being " ( acts 17 : 28, niv ). indeed, it is from his abundance that grenada has received one gracious blessing after another ( john 1 : 16, nlt ). as we reflect on the past half century and the antecedents to grenada's independence, i think we will readily agree that there have been many glorious days but also some grievous days - but through it all, god has stood with this nation. and we are forever grateful. i now wish to acknowledge the esteemed presence of her excellency dame cecile la grenade, governor general hon. dickon mitchell, prime minister members of cabinet other members of parliament dr. didacus jules, director general, oecs commission members of the diplomatic and consular corps ambassador kirani james, cbe, olympic and world champion 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches dr wendy crawford, chair and members of the national celebrations committee and secretariat distinguished guests and visitors fellow grenadians ( home and abroad ) members of the media good evening. the scriptures declare that " without a vision, the people perish ". this special commemorative note, which we are launching this evening, is the brainchild of prime minister dickon mitchell. he also happens to be grenada's first prime minister born after grenada attained political independence. when prime minister mitchell called me last june to propose this collaboration, i was immediately excited. and

##cutor between such external institutions as the ifc and miga, european investment bank, cdb and any other large funding agency and the currency union. at the domestic level to provide umbrella support for the micro financing agencies such as the sedus and national development foundations. this will constitute in its entirety a system of development financing throughout the currency union which is interlocking, has significant economies of scale in administration and technical capacity as well as having access to increased funding sources. in the same vein the regionalization of social security systems within the currency union would be a natural and evolutionary response to the free movement of labour and capital, particularly in light of the current reciprocity arrangements. it would also be a rational response to the current challenges of these systems so that they can bulk up and increase their size to achieve significant improvement in economies of scale and mitigation of risk. the underlying and obvious theme in this futuristic outlook is the need to increase the size and scale of institutions and markets to the minimum critical operational levels that facilitates and stimulates further growth and diversification. as the regional and international system opens up and the currency union and its institutions have to contend with increasingly open and highly competitive systems we will have no choice but to engage in lateral arrangements across the currency union to create institutions of sufficient size, heft and influence to preserve a local presence in our own market place. the way forward would therefore involve deep and objective reflection on the current situation and the options facing us in this new and very challenging environment. we need to identify the gaps in the current financial system which we need to fill, as well as the remaining impediments to the creation of a single financial space. we need to carefully examine the mix of public and private sector activities which are necessary to achieve our goals. we also need to identify the regional and international institutions in both the public and private sectors which can be of critical value to us in achieving these goals. we need to clearly identify the legislative arrangements which are critical to go forward. finally, we need to take into account the precise strategies and means by which the currency union can successfully integrate itself into the regional and international financial systems.