This was disclosed by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves in a media briefing held earlier today at Cabinet Room.

Dr. Gonsalves was updating the media on his attendance at the 58th meeting of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) held in St. Kitts on March 2. Quoting figures provided by the ECCB, Dr. Gonsalves said the average growth registered by member countries was 6%. St. Kitts Nevis had a growth rate of 5.8% while St. Lucia showed 5.7%. Dominica and Grenada had rates of 4.58% and 2.14% respectively.

Dr. Gonsalves, who also chairs the Monetary Council, gave growth figures for this country for the years 2004-2006. He said in 2004 the economy grew by 6.84% and had a drastic drop in 2005 to 2.2%. This is said was attributed to the 2004 hurricane season and the tremendous shortage of cement, which hampered the rapidly growing construction industry.

In 2006 there was a jump to 6.48%, which according to Dr. Gonsalves, was due to the rebound in agriculture, the construction industry and Tourism. The PM said that the council noted that the total deposits of the commercial banking system grew by 11.5% to EC$14 billion in 2006 compared with an increase of 6.9% in 2005. He stated that net foreign assets of the ECCB which provide backing for the EC currency rose by 3.2% to EC$1.7 billion during 2006.