History:
The Regional Programme for Monetary Studies (RPMS) was established in 1968 as a partnership among the central banks of CARICOM countries, the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana. The aim of the RPMS was to facilitate high quality research in monetary, financial and central banking issues in the region and to provide a forum for the collaboration of central banks’ staff and academics from the universities. To encourage this exchange of ideas on a regional level, the Annual Conference of Monetary Studies was birthed and became a key function of the RPMS. The Annual Conference of Monetary Studies has been held consistently every year for 50 years.
The Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies (CCMS) was formally established in May 1995 to carry forward the work of the previous RPMS. The scope of the institution was expanded to include banking and financial sector issues which were articulated through the establishment of an annual Senior Level Policy Seminar with a targeted audience of Central Bankers and members of the banking and finance industry. In 2009, this seminar was renamed the Caribbean Business Executive Seminar and was hosted every year until 2014.
In May 2008, the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF) was formally launched - having evolved from the CCMS - with a mandate to build and add to the solid foundation laid by its past incarnations in areas of monetary policy, investment, securities, insurance and other financial sector issues. Notable contributions of the CMMF include the publication of the Caribbean Regional Financial Stability Report (CRFSR), the monthly CCMF Newsletter, and the bi-annual Caribbean Economic Performance Report. The CCMF undertook an exercise to digitize all past conference papers which is a rich source of research on Caribbean economies for current researchers. The operations of CCMF came to an end on December 31, 2017.
On 17th May 2018, the Governors of the participating Central Banks executed a Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) for the establishment of the Caribbean Economic Research Team (CERT). CERT’s purpose includes the conduct of research programs on monetary and financial policy issues for the Caribbean region; the hosting of conferences, workshops, seminars, data base development and training courses in relation to the research program; and the dissemination and publishing of research material. The MMoU addressed several aspects of the operation of CERT including the establishment of a Chair and Deputy Chair, and a Secretariat which is based at the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. The operations of CERT are carried out by the CERT Secretariat and the CERT Group of Research Directors.
