Dominica’s Minister for Finance, Dr. Irving McIntyre, has pledged to help safeguard the financial well-being of more than 650,000 people across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) as he officially assumed the chairmanship of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Monetary Council.
“To chair this council is to accept responsibility for helping safeguard the financial well-being of more than 650,000 people across our currency union, from Anguilla in the north to Grenada,” Dr. McIntyre said during the official handover ceremony held at the InterContinental Dominica Cabrits Resort & Spa in Portsmouth.
Dr. McIntyre succeeds Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne as chairman of the ECCB’s highest decision-making body.
Accepting the role, the finance minister expressed gratitude for the confidence placed in him and reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening regional cooperation.
“On behalf of the Government and the people of the Commonwealth of Dominica, I accept the chairmanship of this distinguished Monetary Council with humility, gratitude, and an unwavering commitment through regional cooperation,” he said.
Dr. McIntyre acknowledged the uncertainty created by an increasingly volatile geopolitical and economic environment but stressed that the region remains committed to maintaining financial stability.
“Yet amidst these uncertainties, our resolve remains firm,” he said. “Together we will continue to safeguard monetary and financial stability while accelerating the transformation of our economies to deliver sustainable, inclusive and shared prosperity for all our people.”
He noted that the current global environment presents significant challenges to the region’s economic transformation agenda.
“Against this backdrop, economic growth across the ECCU is projected to average just under three percent in both 2026 and 2027, well below the seven percent growth needed to achieve the ambitions of our people,” Dr. McIntyre said, adding that “this reality demands purposeful and coordinated action.”
The ECCB Monetary Council comprises the finance ministers of the ECCB’s eight member governments and serves as the Bank’s highest policy-making body. The chairmanship rotates annually in alphabetical order among the member countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The handover ceremony also featured the unveiling of a newly redesigned family of EC banknotes and coins. The updated currency was introduced to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EC dollar’s fixed exchange rate, or peg, to the United States dollar.
