Barbados will have a new Central Bank Governor by yearend - top Barbadian economist Dr. Delisle Worrell, now Executive Director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance and Professor of Economics at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies. 

Barbados Prime Minister, David Thompson, made the announcement as parliament debated the island's response to the continuing world economic challenges.

"The cabinet has already agreed to the appointment of Dr. Delisle Worrell as the next Governor of the Central Bank and Dr Marion Williams (the current Governor) will be pressed into service elsewhere when her contract ends," said Thompson.

He explained that Barbados is seeking to build a team of the best experts to advise on and monitor "this challenging period in our economy".

Dr. Worrell was until recently a senior economist with the International Monetary Fund, and before leaving Barbados was a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank.. 

He is the author of Small Island Economies: Structure and Performance in the English Speaking Caribbean since 1970 (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1987), and of books on Caribbean and South Pacific economies. 

He has also published several articles on money, banking, exchange rates, economic modelling and forecasting, in books and journals in the U.S., U.K., Mexico and the Caribbean. 

He has held research fellowships at the:

» Smithsonian Institution
» The Institute for International Economics
» The Federal Reserve Board in Washington, 
» Yale University
» Princeton University
» University of the West Indies 

He has been consultant to the:

» InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB)
» The Foundation for Development Cooperation in Brisbane, Australia
» The U.S. Agency for International Development
» The World Bank
» The UN Economic and Social Council and the 
» Caribbean Community Secretariat. 

Dr. Worrell is a graduate of the University of the West Indies (B.Sc. Economics, 1967) and of McGill University, Montreal, Canada (Ph. D., 1975).

Dr. Williams' contract expires in August 2009.

Additional Information:
May 25th, 2009

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