Caribbean center chalks up impressive start

AuthorNigel Bradshaw
PositionIMF Program Coordinator, CARTAC
Pages357-358

Page 357

The Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), located in Barbados, is celebrating its first anniversary, and its ambitious work program suggests it got off to a flying start.

CARTAC--like East AFRITAC--is one of a new breed of regional technical assistance centers established by the IMF in cooperation with other bilateral and multilateral agencies.Moving the source of technical assistance and training closer to the recipient countries and territories is intended to improve efficiency, responsiveness, and relevance. The centers are also able to support greater international and regional technical cooperation on economic and financial management issues and help coordinate technical assistance.

CARTAC was created to enhance the Caribbean's institutional and human resource capacities in macroeconomic--including fiscal and monetary-- management (see box). It helps members strengthen economic and financial governance; provides handson technical advice and training; offers courses, seminars, and workshops; and arranges professional attachments. It also works closely with other regional bodies, such as CARICOM, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Organization of Tax Administrators, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States; with international organizations, such as the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); and with bilateral development agencies.

In its first year of operations, CARTAC undertook 47 technical assistance missions to 14 countries; supported 8 technical conferences, involving over 300 participants; conducted 16 training courses or workshops for almost 600 trainees; provided 24 regional and 10 international specialized consultancies; and arranged 5 professional attachments.

Among CARTAC's principal activities have been the following:

An integrated regulatory framework for the Eastern Caribbean financial sector. Even before September 11, 2001, Eastern Caribbean countries were being called on to monitor and regulate their on- and offshore financial sectors more effectively. CARTAC, working closely with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), has developed a strategy to strengthen the supervision and regulation of banks and nonbank financial institutions. A key element of this is a move toward a common supervisory and regulatory framework and the establishment of a single regulatory and supervisory unit in each country. CARTAC is...

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