Dr. Reginald Darius was appointed to the post of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Social Security on August 29, 2012.  He brings to the position a strong background in macroeconomic policy. Prior to taking up employment with the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Darius was a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). During his seven year tenure at the IMF, Dr. Darius held assignments in the African department where he worked on Rwanda's poverty reduction and growth program, the Strategic Policy and Review department (SPR), where he worked on a wide range of issues relating to advanced (including Japan) and emerging market economies. While in SPR he was part of the team which negotiated an IMF program with Armenia to help fend off the effects of the great recession. He ended his IMF stint in the European department during the unfolding of the euro area crisis.

Dr. Darius was also previously employed as an Economist with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank during the period 1996-1999. From 2000 to 2002 he was employed with the Ministry of Finance where he served in the capacity of Director of Budget and subsequent to that, Director of Finance. 

Dr. Darius graduated from the University of the West Indies with first class honours in Economics and holds a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge.  In 2006 he graduated from the University of Warwick with a PhD in Economics for his work on the Macroeconomics of Open Economies (Exchange Rate Regimes and Welfare).

Dr. Darius has written on a wide range of economic issues including, fiscal and monetary policy, exchange rate regimes and unemployment. His research has been published in a number of international journals including the Journal of International Money and Finance, where his paper entitled "The Macroeconomic effects of Monetary and Fiscal Policy in a Small Open Economy: Does the Exchange Rate Regime matter?" was published.  
A few of his other notable publications include:

• Can Global Liquidity Forecast Asset Prices? IMF Working Paper 10/196, Reversing the Financial Accelerator: Credit Conditions and Macro-Financial Linkages, IMF 11/26 Cross-Cutting Themes in Employment Experiences during the Crisis. IMF Staff Position Note, SPN/10/18 Oil Price Shocks: Outlook, Impact on Growth and Policy Implications for Advanced Oil Importing Economies" Revised and Submitted to the Journal of Energy Economics for review.

• Debt Neutrality: Theory and Evidence from Developing Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Applied Economics, 33, 2001, pp. 49-58. Examination of the PPP Hypothesis in a Low Inflation Environment: The Case of the ECCB countries, Money Affairs Vol. XIII Jan-June 2000, pp. 1-16. (co-authored) Terms of Trade Shocks and the Current Account in the ECCB Monetary Union, Journal of International Development, Vol.13 issue 8, 2000 pp 1179-1188 (co-authored) Pegging, Misalignment and Inertia, in a Unified Currency Area, Central Bank of Barbados Review, July 1999.(co-authored )

He has been awarded a number of prestigious awards including the:

• Overseas Research Studentship (2003-2005) Warwick Postgraduate Research Fellowship (2002-2005) Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar (1994) George Beckford Price for Economics , UWI (1993)

Dr. Reginald Darius is a distinguished Saint Lucian who brings a wealth of experience and significant insight within his core area of expertise.