Politics
Caribbean needs to identify new areas of economic growth
He then said, “While we have had some economic success in the past, the protracted global economic and financial morass and the ensuing international regulatory regime have exposed and aggravated the vulnerabilities that exist. …. Consequently our region continues to experience weak growth, elevated fiscal imbalances and heightened risks within the financial market. These factors affect the quality of life of our residents and citizens.”
He said that an appropriate solution to the challenges the region faces would be extremely difficult without the help of development partners to include the international financial institution (IFI) community. He then stated, “This is principally due to our limited resource base, available financial policy instruments, productive capacity constraints and general inefficiencies related to economies of scale. These will continue to create barriers to growth with consequential impacts on budgets and the private sector whom we depend on to fuel growth.”
Meade said while the regional countries were appreciative of the support of the CDB in making funding available through loans at concessional rates and grants, several others were “till unable to benefit from grants because of their perceived wealth as indicated by their per capita GDP.
Mead then said, “Nevertheless, the introduction of policy based lending has helped to target resources to areas of priority. We are however, concerned about the delays in the approval of these much needed resources and encourage CDB and ourselves to see where improvements can be made and do so.”
Meade said that the banking system remains under considerable stress in most of regional countries and that the non-performing loan portfolio in some of jurisdictions, poor management and cost of operations along with a reduction in investment opportunities have significantly reduced the viability of some indigenous banks. “This can be seen from forced interventions in a few banks and significant losses in others. Whether a resolution strategy is implemented now or later, the issue will need to be comprehensively addressed,” he added.
Source: Caribbean360
