The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB) Partial Credit Guarantee Programme has surpassed 300 loans valued at over $30 million across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine revealed at the launch of the bank’s 2026-2031 Strategic Plan on Tuesday evening.

Antoine described the figures as a milestone for the programme, which was launched in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and said the ECCB intends to scale it up significantly under its new five-year plan.

“At the moment we have done over 300 loans at a value of 30 million dollars and we’re just getting started,” Antoine said. “We are going to scale that up to bring support for farmers, fishers, creatives and small businesses all across our currency union.”

The governor said expanding access to credit is central to the bank’s broader development ambitions under the plan, themed “The Big Push: Collective Action for Shared Prosperity in the ECCU.”

He framed credit access as an essential pre-condition for the kind of economic transformation the plan envisions.
“The big push needs credit so we have to unlock credit,” Antoine said.

He explained how the programme works in practice, noting that it is designed to reduce the risk exposure of lending institutions, making them more willing to extend financing to borrowers who would otherwise struggle to qualify.

Under the scheme, a guarantee of approximately 75 to 80 percent of a loan value is provided, meaning a bank lending $100,000 carries an effective risk of only $20,000 to $25,000.

“That makes it far more attractive for the bank to lend because they have a lot less to lose in terms of risk or funds at risk,” Antoine said. “That is our way, one simple way, an important way of making credit more accessible and using what we have.”

Antoine pointed to the ECCU banking system’s excess liquidity as the underlying resource the programme is designed to leverage.

He noted that deposits across the currency union currently exceed $28 billion against a loan book of approximately $16 billion.

“Our system is awash with liquidity,” he said. “What is in our hand is excess liquidity in the banking system.”

The governor said the programme is available not only to commercial banks but also to credit unions and development banks and called for greater uptake across all categories of lending institutions.

He also announced plans to broaden access to the regional credit bureau to include credit unions, which he said would further unlock financing for individuals and businesses.

Antoine said the ECCB will also introduce a secured collateral registry, allowing small businesses to use inventory and accounts receivable as collateral to access credit, a reform that he says would open financing to businesses that currently lack traditional assets to pledge.

The programme’s expansion forms part of the plan’s third pillar, which covers payment modernisation and financial inclusion, and its fourth pillar focused on inclusive economic growth.