 The 94th meeting of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the ECCB, was held at the ECCB headquarters by Stairs and Kits and Nevis on 11th October 2019 via video conference under the chairmanship of Dr. the Right Honourable Keith Mitchell. The Monetary Council received the Financial Stability Report for the ECCU for the period January to September 2019. The report revealed that the ECCU's financial system remained broadly stable during the first nine months of 2019. The report also indicated that the financial sector continued to experience growth as evidenced by the rise in both assets and deposits, the credit growth had become more sustained and broad-based across sectors. Council noted that growth remained resilient at the ECCU level despite international conditions. Key contributing factors to growth include an increase in tourism arrivals, higher public and private sector investments and an increase in government consumption. Meantime the ECCB is ramping up support for climate resilience in the region, expanding discussions by St. Lucia's Prime Minister on the world stage. Honourable Alan Shasne has been lobbying the global community for actionable change in how it engages the region in the areas of financing post-disasters over the last two years beginning during his tenure as chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States OECS in June of 2017 and now as chairman of the Caribbean community. Lisa Joseph has more on that. So if we don't build the physical resilience to reduce the amount of economic impact and chaos that the storm causes, then we become uninsurable. So a good friend of mine who has a hotel in Dominica, his insurance went up 600%. 600%. So it's now 20% of his operating cost. There's no model in which you can pay 20% of your operating cost for insurance. That's just not viable and that's now and since that hurricane nothing has happened. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shasne speaking at the World Economic Forum's Sustainable Development Impact Summit on September 23, 2019. Honourable Shasne was a panelist at the summit which discussed transforming markets redesigning today's economic models. St. Lucia's Prime Minister at that forum brought to the fore the stark realities of small island states like St. Lucia as they take on the Hekulian journey to climate resilience. Honourable Shasne's note to the World Economic Forum is one that has resonated with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the ECCB. In fact, Governor Timothy Antoine says there must be heightened discussion in the region on insurance and financial protection. Speaking at the launch of the ECCB's Financial Information Month on September 30, 2019, the ECCB Governor stressed that as the region strives to become the first climate resilience zone in the world, the issue of financial resilience is of paramount importance. Insurance which is essentially a form of risk transfer ought to be seen and properly recognised as a key element in our region's resilience framework. As we speak, about two-thirds of natural disaster losses in the Caribbean are uninsured. I repeat, two-thirds of natural disaster losses in the Caribbean are uninsured. At the household level, many homes are uninsured or uninsured. Some suggest only about 25% of our household stock may be adequately insured. Governor Antoine indicated that the financial protection gap in the Eastern Caribbean presents a major impediment to sustained development and shared prosperity. We cannot start over our development every time we experience a natural disaster, medical problem or financial reversal. Instead, we ought to position ourselves to bounce back quickly, the classic definition of resilience, to bounce back quickly after we've been hit by the storms of life which inevitably come. This concern by the ECCB's Governor was highlighted by Hon. Balchance, when he addressed the 74th session of the United Nations Journal Assembly on September 27, 2019, as he recounted the devastation wrought on the region by Hurricanes Irma, Maria and most recent Dorian. Against that backdrop, Hon. Balchance announced a new partnership between St. Lucia and the World Economic Forum as the island strives to be the first country to implement a country-financing roadmap, CFR. The CFR is a platform to support countries in making a transformative shift from funding to financing. It will harness the collective intelligence from the WEF's expansive networks and promote consensus on the main challenges that limit capital flows to St. Lucia. It will also leverage coordinated action to move from a holistic diagnostic to a country-specific tangible action plan. We are grateful for this opportunity to be the test case for this initiative and look forward to its success and once successful to be replicated across other states. The Governor of the ECCB says Financial Information Month throughout October offers all the platform to discuss openly the challenges and opportunities of financial stability. The theme for the Month's observance is Plan for Uncertainty, Make Insurance Your Priority. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting.