East Caribbean Dollar

Overview

The East Caribbean dollar is the currency used in eight of the nine nations in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States — Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla (UK Territory), and Montserrat (UK Territory). The British Virgin Islands is the only member of the OECS that uses its own currency. The East Caribbean Dollar is designated by EC$ and has been pegged to the US Dollar at US$1 = EC$2.70 since 1976.

Economy

• The economies of the OECS member states vary significantly, but most of them rely upon tourism and agriculture to varying extents. Offshore banking also represents a large proportion of the GDP for several of the OECS nations.
• Many of the islands are home to multinational corporations, typically in financial services, who have large offices in a few of the OECS nations to take advantage of low or no taxation.
• As the member states are small island nations, they are heavily reliant upon imports. Exportation is relatively limited, though some of the nations do export agricultural products such as bananas, and cocoa.

History

• Prior to 1965, OECS members were part of the West Indies Federation, using BWI$ as their currency. However many members of the WIF either did not adopt the BWI$. Trinidad and Tobago withdrew from the union in 1964, leading to a lack of support for the BWI$.
• In 1965, the British West Indies Dollar was replaced at par by the East Caribbean Dollar.
• In 1966, British Guiana withdrew from the currency union, and in 1972, Barbados also withdrew from the currency union.
• Between 1965 and 1983, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority issued the EC$, with notes and coins from 1965 from 1981.
• The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, based in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis was created by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Agreement signed in Port of Spain on July 5, 1983.