garrison, once the defense hub of the british caribbean, were recently declared unesco world heritage sites. ) a major initiative is on to improve government ’ s facilitation of business, especially tourism and international business, and to make the system of fiscal incentives more efficient and transparent. barbadians remain confident of the future of our international business and financial centre in an interconnected digital world. the globalisation of commerce and finance is the present reality and the inexorable future of the 21st century, and small international financial centres like barbados play an essential role in improving the efficiency of international transactions and the competitiveness of international firms. there is a small but growing literature on this, bis central bankers ’ speeches including the forthcoming report on an international conference on this topic which barbados hosted on september 11. barbados bases its appeal to potential investors in our network of double taxation treaties ( dtas ) and tax information exchange agreements ( tieas ), and the fact that our regulatory framework is kept abreast of international standards through reviews by the imf, world bank, the financial action task force on anti - money laundering ( fatf ) and the global forum of the oecd on tax information. in addition the country boasts a small but growing cadre of skilled professionals, and highly competitive support services and infrastructure. barbados ’ growth strategy, led by our private sector, supported by reformed government services, incentives and infrastructure, will yield steadily improving, sustainable growth over the medium term. however, for 2014 the priority remains economic stabilisation and fiscal consolidation. so far the correction in the fiscal deficit is only about 2 percent of gdp, compared with almost 6 percent correction which is the target for the current fiscal year. the second half of the fiscal year is expected to yield larger gains, as some measures ( such a tax to cover waste management expenses ) are biased towards the second half. in addition, government is tightening fiscal controls with the recent establishment of an independent oversight body for state owned enterprises, and the barbados revenue authority, which began operations in april, is expected to improve the efficiency of revenue administration. the imf and the caribbean technical assistance centre are providing assistance with public financial management and tax policy. the service costs of barbados ’ sovereign external debt in 2014 are about 7 percent of the country ’ s foreign exchange earnings on the current account of the balance of payments, and are not expected to exceed 10 percent for the foreseeable future. the domestic financing needs for the target deficit of 6.

of no significance. let ’ s practice and live the norms and the values that led to the glory days of many civilisations. you are a privileged group. as members of a highly diverse and global group of scholars, you are well positioned to make a difference to the world through islamic finance. since its inception in 2006, 86 recipients from 20 countries have been awarded the shariah scholarship award. right now, we have 40 recipients from 12 countries. given such diversity with global orientation, it is only fitting to label this programme as the isra global scholarship. our aspiration is that this programme will continue to grow and makes a difference. we aspire that isra global scholars are acknowledged as potential game changers for the industry and a product of a highly rigorous selection process. ideas to further contribute towards the industry ’ s transformation i would like to raise three issues for your consideration as alumni of the shariah scholarship 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches award. first, continuously push and expand the frontiers of knowledge in whatever role you are in. as scholars, we know intimately the importance of knowledge and research. research is where breakthrough thinking should originate, especially in the area of applied research that is solutiondriven and industry - related. but this will necessitate us to develop a greater understanding on the real issues facing the industry. it also necessitates us to learn other disciplines as well, just like the great scholars of yesteryears that venture into other areas of studies. they became very innovative because of the varied disciplines. only then, are we able to develop practical and costeffective solutions. for example, most islamic finance industries around the globe are still domestically oriented and a majority of them still engage in consumer credit and simple form of banking products. if islamic finance were to expand we need to go beyond these domains. scholars and researchers need to think through what it takes to internationalise the industry, how to enhance cross border transactions of islamic finance services or how products could be structured to meet the sophisticated needs of the economy. second, broaden your worldview to think about all issues surrounding the ummah, not just those directly within the realm of shariah and islamic finance today. we now see many traditional sectors ripe for disruption, with incumbents blindsided by new technologies and new business models. islamic finance will not be isolated from these rapid changes. the islamic finance community must be innovative and competitive to fulfil the needs of islamic finance users