those in the dominican republic and cancun, for example. instead we must exploit and develop barbados'reputation and appeal to the discriminating tourist who will pay a higher price for a more rewarding experience. we must become more adept in demonstrating that potential investments in upmarket projects are eminently profitable, and we must focus our competitive initiatives on countries and areas which serve the traveller who treasures an exceptional vacation experience. the financing of small business presents special challenges in all economies, not just in barbados, for reasons that have been aired extensively, and are familiar to all of us. barbados has borrowed from experiences in the uk and other advanced economies over many years, to establish a variety of funds and support schemes for small business. however, we could unquestionably do a much better job of coordinating services for small business, and channelling finance and support services in ways that are most helpful to each type of activity. capital markets have not proven to be particularly useful for small open economies, and very little investment in barbados has been funded by new issues of stock, over the life of the barbados securities exchange. it has to be admitted that an exchange with as little daily activity as characterises our own, has little potential to contribute to investment in producing goods and services. all that i have said so far paints a relatively benign picture of the efficiency of the financial services sector, in meeting the needs of barbadians. however, availability of finance remains number two in obstacles to doing business in barbados, in the world bank ’ s global competitiveness index. the reason may be that the sources of available finance do not cover innovation. it is the businesses which aim to break new ground which have difficulty in sourcing finance on terms which they can afford. what such firms need is equity finance, funds from sources which will not expect an immediate return, and can wait until the project becomes profitable. we should give some thought to this problem. it may be argued that there is an adequate supply of funds from sources that are prepared to take the long view, foregoing near - term returns on their investments in exchange for a higher yield over the life of the investment. insurance and pension funds, for example, may wish to allocate a portion of their portfolio in this way. what they may lack is an appropriate vehicle for channelling those funds in the direction of innovators. the stock exchange does not provide such a platform, because innovating firms will not have a track record of success

delisle worrell : debating social science issues in the caribbean opening remarks by dr delisle worrell, governor of the central bank of barbados, at the 2016 annual review seminar, bridgetown, 26 july 2016. * * * a warm welcome to the 2016 annual review seminar ( ars ). this conference plays a vital role in the intellectual life of barbados and the caribbean, and it has hugely greater potential to contribute to the global policy debate in years to come. over the years we have seen the ars mature as an incubator for the development of the skills of caribbean economists, especially those in the early years of their career. this event began as an opportunity for central bank economists to share their research, and invite comment, and it continues to be a catalyst for our ongoing work. our seminar is timed to fall at a time when we have interns visiting with us, and we always fit them into our programme. in addition, we issue a global call for papers, and as always we delight in the presence of those of you have come from further afield to join us today. the ars complements the annual monetary studies conference ( amsc ) and the annual salises conference, making for a trio of opportunities to debate social science issues in the caribbean. i see an exciting future for the ars as we go forward, based on the research underway at the central bank of barbados ( cbb ), on policy options in what we are calling the small very open economies ( svoe ). we see an opportunity here to exploit an unfulfilled niche in the global market for ideas. forty years ago the university of the west indies and caribbean economists pioneered research in the economic problems of small size. the late william demas, second president of the caribbean development bank ( cdb ), brought size into the mainstream economic debate with his book the economics of development in small countries, and the new world group of social scientists produced a wealth of deeply researched studies on the challenges and circumstances of small open economies. we understood then that one size cannot fit all, and that the strategies that canada and the united states employ to grow and prosper cannot be borrowed, lock, stock and barrel, and applied to tiny economies like barbados. but that is what we have come to nowadays. whether you are brazil or belize, canada or cayman, mexico or maldives, the international monetary fund ( imf ) insists that your best mix of economic adjustment measures is an independent central bank with an inflation