As is customary, the month of October is Literacy Month observed in all eight territories of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) which include Anguilla.

The ECCB Building in St. Kitts

With one more week to go in September, the observance of the occasion will commence with an address by Anguilla’s Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, declaring open the month-long series of events. The speech will first be read in churches on Sunday, September 30 and then delivered by the Minister on the radio stations on Monday, October 1.

The ECCB is partnering with the media, financial institutions, community groups and government ministries in staging Financial Literacy Month. Media representatives on the island met with personnel at the ECCB Agency Office at the Fair Play Commercial Complex on Thursday, September 20, to discuss the activities and the role they are expected to play.

This year the focus of Literacy Month is on instilling “a culture of saving” in the minds of the general public, hence the theme “Save For Your Future.” It is proposed that the month’s activities will focus on “why save”, “how to save” and “ways to save”.
The ECCB Agency Office stated that the activities are expected to serve as a catalyst for the delivery of financial literacy programmes in the schools and wider communities. The aim is to provide an effective means of financial literacy in the various constituencies.

The activities will include a church sermon on Saturday, October 6, highlighting the Bible’s teachings on saving and investing wisely. There will be ECCB quizzes on Heart Beat Radio and Radio Anguilla; radio discussions and interviews on such topics as “Why it pays to have a savings plan”; “practical money for skills in life”; “save your money for the future”; a pre-recorded interview with an ECCB official commemorating the 24th Anniversary of the Central Bank (October 1, 1983 – October 1, 2007); visits by schoolchildren to financial institutions such as the Commercial Banks, the Anguilla Development Board, Social Security, the ECCB and insurance companies.

The programme of activities also provides for personnel from the ECCB and other financial institutions to visit various business places and for the ECCB to visit the Omolulu Institute. Provision has been made for the publication of newspaper articles on “Why it pays to have a savings plan”, “Financing your future via investments in Treasury Bills, Bonds and Stocks” and “Practical money skills for life.”

There will be a Financial Fair and Luncheon on October 26; and closing remarks by the Minister of Finance on the radio stations on October 31.

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