cleviston haynes : bio - digestion - benefits to barbados speech by mr cleviston haynes, governor of the central bank of barbados, at the conference on " bio - digestion : benefits to barbados ", bridgetown, 17 may 2019. * * * welcome to this conference on “ bio - digestion : benefits to barbados. ” at the outset, we thank mr. joseph tesar, president of quantalux, and the spouse of the bank ’ s 2019 distinguished visiting fellow, dr. linda tesar, for offering to share his expertise and experience in converting waste to energy in a clean and sustainable way. we are also thankful for the support provided by members of the local alternative energy community. this conference is important, opportune, and necessary because our national energy policy is focused on shifting to the use of renewables and cutting our reliance on fossil fuels that are currently central to meeting our transportation and electricity needs. indeed, government has announced an ambitious goal of 100 % reliance on renewables for energy generation by 2030. it is ambitious because at present only an estimated 4 % to 6 % of our energy needs are being met by renewables. it is ambitious because the transition requires significant investments. but ambitious it needs to be so that we can promote greater energy security, enhance our long term competitiveness and address the negative spillovers that accompany the use of fossil fuels. i wish therefore to commend the efforts of local agencies such as the ministry of energy and water resources and the barbados renewable energy association that have been championing this thrust towards renewables. as we seek to promote greater stakeholder engagement in this process, it is important that we enhance our knowledge about how we can benefit from alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, and waste. today ’ s conference fits neatly into that vein as mr. tesar will help us to better understand how the waste we generate can fit into the new energy mix ; how we can turn our organic waste into economic value ; and how we can protect a fragile environment and mitigate the risks associated with climate change to which the carbon produced by fossil fuels contributes. we must see the shift to renewable energy in the context of leveraging our biological resources, while building resilience : building environmental resilience, financial resilience, and economic resilience. you may recall the topic of our 2004 sir winston scott memorial lecture, “ the economy or the environment : what is the bottom line

. the new coupons are lower and maturities are longer, with limited issuance of short - term treasury bills. in addition, several of the new instruments will be redeemed in tranches rather than as bullets, enabling a gradual reduction in the debt stock. an added feature of some of the new securities structures is a natural disaster clause, which takes account of our nation ’ s vulnerability to natural disasters by affording government the option to defer debt service payments, on the occurrence of a catastrophic weather event. apart from the passage of the debt holder ( approval of debt restructuring ) act 2018, which gives effect to the debt restructuring, there have been consequential amendments to the existing body of legislation governing public debt issuances, namely the local loans, treasury bills and tax certificates and the savings bonds acts. in addition, parliament also passed the dematerialisation of government securities act 2018 to provide for the issuance of statements rather than physical certificates for the new instruments. this change to the issue format, as well as in the nature of the securities, has resulted in the need for the bank to alter its pre - existing software to facilitate ease of issue of statements. the process has taken somewhat longer than originally envisaged, but our staff has been working assiduously with our software providers to manage this transition in an effort to enable the timely issuance of the new statements. i have been advised that, pending any last minute technical glitches, the process for issuing statements in the new format should begin today. an important benefit of the issuance of securities in this book - entry format is the resultant settlement efficiency that can be facilitated. currently, the trading of government securities on the secondary capital market is characterised as thin and one impediment to trading activity is the length of time it takes for securities ’ transfers, with respect to the registration of ownership. with securities now being issued in a dematerialised, book - entry format, it is envisioned that secondary market activity will be executed more timely and efficiently, compared to what was feasible with physical certificates. the central bank is planning to introduce a web - based interface between its bond registry, the brokers and the barbados stock exchange, whereby brokers will have read - only access to verify the holdings of investors seeking to divest their securities. this will be supported by a messaging facility with the central bank to ensure that the transfer process is effectively completed. at the outset, it is unlikely that there