John A Rolle: Exchange control liberalisation and future developments

Remarks by Mr John A Rolle, Governor of the Central Bank of the Bahamas, at the Seminar on Exchange Control Liberalisation and Future Developments, Nassau, 5 February 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

The Central Bank is pleased to welcome participants to today's seminar on the administration of Exchange Controls (EC) in The Bahamas.  This event is being held to provide more information on the recent liberalisation measures.  We seek to promote better awareness of the distinction between exchange controls current account or trade-related transactions versus those on capital and financial flows.  This has a bearing on how discussions about liberalisation of international financial flows could be approached. We also expect to receive constructive feedback on how the various administrative processes can be further improved.  

Over time the Bank expects that our focus will narrow to just those issues related to capital and financial flows and how these can be managed for the benefit of the economy.  The Bank anticipates a further rapid shift in delegated responsibility to commercial banks to process foreign currency applications for trade-related payments.  This will leave more space on our work agenda to explore and prepare for relaxation of capital flows.