The ECCB is hosting its 4th Regional Central Bank Communications Conference from September 9–11, 2026, bringing together representatives of central banks across the Caribbean as well as international experts.

The conference is being held under the theme “Engage, Listen, Adapt – Reshaping Central Bank Communication for Public Trust.”

For Saint Lucia, the discussions are particularly relevant because the country is one of eight members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union whose monetary system is managed by the ECCB.

ECCB Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine used the conference to make the case that communication by financial institutions can no longer be treated simply as the dissemination of information.

Instead, the Bank is advocating communication that is transparent, trustworthy, timely and two-way. Antoine said institutions must go further and assess whether people actually understand the information being provided and whether communication ultimately produces meaningful action.

That approach could have important implications for how complex economic issues are explained to citizens across Saint Lucia and the wider Eastern Caribbean.

Decisions and developments involving inflation, interest rates, banking stability, economic growth, digital payments and financial regulation ultimately affect households and businesses. Yet the technical language surrounding central banking can sometimes make those issues difficult for ordinary citizens to understand.

The conference is therefore examining three major areas: developing better systems for listening to stakeholders; translating complicated economic data into meaningful public dialogue; and ensuring that institutions act on the feedback they receive. citeturn0search2

The ECCB has been steadily moving in that direction.

Earlier this year, the Bank brought together media practitioners from across the Eastern Caribbean for a workshop aimed at strengthening cooperation between the media and the region's central bank. ECCB Deputy Governor Dr. Valda F. Henry stressed during that engagement that effective communication is closely connected to institutional strength.

The latest conference widens that conversation.

Communication professionals from the 11 central banks represented on the CARICOM Committee of Central Bank Governors are participating, including institutions from The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean.

Experts from the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, De Nederlandsche Bank and the Caribbean School of Media and Communication at The University of the West Indies are also contributing. citeturn0search2

For Eastern Caribbean citizens, the central message emerging from the conference is straightforward: economic institutions cannot expect public confidence simply because they possess technical expertise. They must also explain what they are doing, why they are doing it and how their decisions affect people's lives.

That becomes especially important during periods of economic uncertainty.

The challenge for the ECCB and other regional central banks is therefore to translate increasingly complicated economic conditions into information citizens can understand and use.

The conference concludes on September 11 with participating institutions expected to develop action plans and commitments aimed at improving their communication practices. The host institution for the 2027 conference is also expected to be announced.