Barbados Central Bank Announces Monetary Policy Measures to Soften Impact of Covid-19

  • The Central Bank announced several policy measures to address Covid-19 on Monday including:The Bank’s discount rate at which it provides overnight lending to banks and deposit-taking non-banks licensed under the Financial Institutions Act will be reduced from 7% to 2%.
  • The Bank will reduce the securities ratio for banks from 17.5% to 5%. The Bank will also eliminate the 1.5% securities ratio for non-bank deposit taking licensees.
  • The Bank also stands ready to make collateralised loans for up to six months as liquidity support for licensees, if necessary.

(Source: Central Bank of Barbados)