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May 2013
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Mr. Williams, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the St Augustine Campus, was later a member of the first graduating class in the Master of Science in Economics Programme, again from St Augustine. In a 30 year career at the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Williams rose to the level of Senior Advisor/Deputy Director, Western Hemisphere division. He led IMF missions to several countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. More specifically, he was the mission leader that negotiated one of the stand-by arrangements with Barbados in the 1980’s and served as the Mission Chief to Mexico during the Mexican Financial Crisis of the mid-1990s. In 2001, he was the main architect of the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), established by the IMF and other multilateral and bilateral agencies to assist the region in capacity building in public finance, banking and statistics. Mr Williams, Chairman of The UWI St Augustine Campus, is also a former Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago. During his tenure, he spearheaded significant achievements for that institution. Noteworthy among these are the Bank’s improved capacity for economic research and support for monetary policy and the shift to a more market based monetary policy framework based on the repo rate. Mr. Williams also ensured the strengthening of financial supervision through the introduction of new statutes and amendments to existing legislation and financial infrastructure such as the electronic payments system. Mr. Williams’ tenure culminated with the re-introduction of the $50 note in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of independence. Photo by Aneel Karim |
There was an international gathering of business, finance and academic attendees at the 5th Biennial International Business, Banking and Finance Conference on May 2 and 3 at The UWI. It was also the occasion when Ewart Williams, a Distinguished Alumnus, was recognised as that Conference’s Honoree.