Farewell Governor Williams

Barbados' central bank governor is moving on to new pastures, to a place where bells are often ringing. Governor Dr. Marion Williams will soon become the country's Ambassador in Geneva, Switzerland. She got a fitting farewell from the audience gathered to dine with her at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on October 28. She had been at the bank for 36 years, and as the bank is 37 years old, she was as much the bank as anyone could be.

Governors are often known for what they do not say, as much if not more than what they actually say. Over many decades, The Bank of England's Governor's eyebrows gave the signal for interest rates to rise or fall: bankers knew what to look for, and were not just focusing on what they heard. We heard from one of the current deputy Governors, Harold Coddrington, that Governor Williams' main non-verbal signal was her right index finger. She was Barbados' first woman Governor at the central bank and if some find that finger-wagging image of her to be motherly, it should also be clear that mother often knew best. But Dr. Williams often did things with the broadest of broad smiles, and spoke in the softest of tones, so was often listened to very carefully and her wisdom taken graciously.

We know that Governor Williams was a well qualified Governor: an economist by training, who then qualified as an accountant and banker because her responsibilities required that she have those skills. It meant that when she did speak to the financial sector or about the economy she did so with a certain level of expertise that was hard to fault.

PM David Thompson gave the final tribute to the Governor, and amongst the many nice compliments that he offered, he noted that the Governor had always been "fair and balanced" in her views. He also noted that her voice was often one of calm and was thus fittingly calming: he alluded to the stressful atmosphere that emerged as the problems of CL Financial came to light several months ago and how the Governor calmed many with her putting the 'crisis' into a better perspective that included a reminder that similar problems had been faced before and overcome. However, he made the enigmatic remark that the Governor was "not a cigar-smoking, back room boy". For that clarification I can breathe a deep sigh of relief.

The Governor took the last chance to make her position clear on relations with the IMF. While she applauded the technical assistance that the Fund offered, including more recently through its Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC, with which I am very familiar), as far as policy making was concerned, the Fund should be kept "at arm's length"; policy making should always be a national issue. She's absolutely right, of course, as as far as policy making goes, but I would always venture that some uncomfortable policy decisions need bolstering, both in terms of justification as well as application, that can readily be provided if the distance is less than arm's length. The dinner had been arranged so that each course was bridged by a tribute. Fortunately for me, by the time that the Governor was offering her views on the Fund, I had already swallowed my main course and was happily onto the dessert, so everything seemed sweet to me.

I don't think the Governor will send me a request to be her interpreter or economic advisor while in Geneva, but she may be nice enough to make me welcome over a bowl of cheese fondue. She wont need to keep me at arm's length. I hope she and her husband, Clyde, enjoy their time in Switzerland.