Profit for Barbados Central Bank last year
Friday August 19 2011 | 06:52 AM

Barbados' Central Bank is reporting a major turnaround in its financial performance.

The institution today reported a $3 million profit last year following a $9.4 million loss in 2009, and said details of the performance were contained in its just-published 2010 Annual Report.

News of this came in a Press release from the bank, which said the 2010 profit "will be applied to the accumulated deficit of $9.4 million".

It said the financial environment remained challenging during 2010 because of low international interest rates. The improved performance in 2010 was attributed to "savings in expenditure and higher levels of income".

"Total expenses declined by $3 million, while income rose by $9.5 million or 18 per cent over the previous year, primarily the result of gains from sale of securities in view of favourable market conditions," it stated.

On the expense side, the bank's actuarial contribution to its pension fund declined by $2.3 million.

"This reduction reflects the improved performance of the scheme which carried a surplus at the end of 2010," it said.

The bank also reported an impairment provision of $4.2 million for the Caribbean Multilateral Clearing Facility, bringing the total provision for this debt to $15.9 million. Another $500,000 million was provided for impairment of foreign assets under management.

At the institutional level, Governor Dr. DeLisle Worrell revealed that the bank embarked on a process of revising and upgrading its operations to meet the challenges of a changing economy and financial sector.

To this end, he said the bank adopted a new vision, based on the conviction that a happy well-motivated staff working cooperatively to achieve the bank's objectives would lead to higher levels of productivity and standards of service to which the bank aspires.

"During the course of 2010, the bank's staff embarked on a process of consciously working to build equitable, companionable relations across the institution, with an emphasis on building trust, and a culture of mutual support and helpfulness among ourselves," the governor noted.