Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

DERICK LATIBEAUDIERE'S 13-year reign at Nethersole Place in Kingston came to an abrupt end last evening with news that the central bank governor had demitted office with immediate effect.

Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw has appointed Brian Wynter, former deputy Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) governor, as the new head of the central bank, effective December 1, 2009.

Wynter is at present employed to the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) in Barbados.

Audrey Anderson, senior deputy governor of the BOJ, has been put in charge of the bank until November 30.

Minutes after the Ministry of Finance issued a release on the departure of Latibeaudiere, another statement followed, saying Financial Secretary Dr Wesley Hughes would, with immediate effect, take charge of the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The BOJ governor had been leading the IMF talks.

A release yesterday from the Ministry of Finance said Latibeaudiere's departure was by mutual agreement between Shaw and the governor.

The statement from the ministry did not indicate why the governor was stepping down.

Serious divergence

However, at the end of September, Shaw had revealed that there was serious divergence between the central bank's approach to monetary policy and the Ministry of Finance's fiscal-policy direction.

This divergence had contributed to a more than $15-billion hike in additional interest-rate payments.

Shaw shelved diplomacy during a meeting of Parliament's Standing Finance Committee on September 29 and indicated that he and Latibeaudiere were at variance in relation to fiscal and monetary policy.

"You have the monetary side, which is monitored by the Bank of Jamaica, and you have the fiscal side that the ministry has to deal with in terms of the Budget.

"Sometimes there are conflicts between monetary policy and fiscal policy and those in charge of monetary policy, their primary concern is inflation, their primary concern is the exchange-rate stability, and they connect one with the other," Shaw had said.

Earlier this year, Shaw had said he was not comfortable with the speed with which interest rates were declining at the central bank.

Subsequent to his public comments, the BOJ reduced interest rates in August and September.

Shaw, who appeared satisfied with the cuts in rates, said the BOJ governor "was now making the right moves".

Latibeaudiere first worked with the BOJ between 1978 and 1979 as a senior economist in the Monetary and Foreign Exchange Policy Department.