Howai 'interested' in regional project to avoid using scarce US dollars

Central Bank Governor Larry Howai. -

CENTRAL Bank Governor Larry Howai has described a pilot project by four Caribbean central banks to develop an alternative payment system aimed at reducing reliance on the US dollar for trade and remittances, as interesting.

But Howai said the bank would have to get more information on this initiative before it can adopt a formal position on it.

A report in the Jamaica Gleaner said the initiative seeks to transform cross-border payments, and will eventually link it to Africa’s system, which created the service three years ago.

The report added the pilot programme for the Caribbean Payment and Settlement System, CAPSS, will initially include Barbados, the Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) member states, and one additional country to be confirmed.

In a WhatsApp comment on August 10, Howai said, "At this stage all I can say is that I am interested in the initiative but we won’t take a formal position on it until I have completed a full evaluation of the system."

He added no talks have taken place with Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo on this matter.

Howai said, "To be part of the pilot project, we have to be members of the Africa EXIM Bank and we are not currently members."

In a separate WhatsApp comment, TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce president Sonji Pierre Chase said she met with Howai on August 5 and expressed the private sector's support for this initiative.

She added it was a pleasure for her to represent the chamber at a recent Africaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF 2025) in Grenada where the CAPSS was mentioned.

Pierre Chase said during the forum she met with acting Chief Operating Officer of Afreximbank Caribbean Office (based in Barbados) Okechukwu Ihejirika and ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine (ECCB)

"I was able to engage both gentlemen on the CAPSS, which has been successful implemented in Barbados, Bahamas and OECS countries."

She said, "It is important for the private sector in Caricom to support an initiative that will facilitate cross-border trade in our economic bloc with our own currencies and not be constrained by the scarcity of US dollars."

Pierre Chase confirmed CAPSS is an AfrexEximbank project.

She said the bank's president Professor Benedict Okey Oramah told the forum, "Afreximbank and the central banks of this region have launched the CAPSS modelled after the Pan-African Payment System (PAPSS), to enable regional trade payment in local currencies."

Oramah, Pierr-Chase continued, advised the forum, "Our objective is to bring every Caricom country into this payment ecosystem and create seamless trade financing corridors."

She added Oramah indicated, "We will also launch a currency trading platform similar to what we have done in Africa as well as a CAPSS card that would enable Caricom citizens to spend their national currencies anywhere they visit in the Caribbean.”

Pierre Chase said on a broader horizon, CAPSS could allow Caricom's private sector to conduct trade with the business community in the African Union and pay for goods and services traded across those borders in their national currency.