The Central Bank of Barbados took over responsibility for exchange control in 1973 but the system predates the Bank. Exchange controls became more critical in 1975 when Barbados fixed its currency against the US dollar. The system served this country well, mainly for monitoring purposes, and helped to avoid the disastrous speculative outflows which nearly ruined some Southeast Asian countries in 1977.
During the last decade, however, there has been increasing support for the view that exchange controls can be a brake on economic development. Consequently, the Bank has been gradually liberalising its exchange controls.