Caricom governments are struggling to maintain the levels of social and other spending that electorates have come to expect. From health care to roads and education, few nations in the region now have the capital or the ability to raise new revenue to grow the social sector, finance infrastructure or create employment. Instead, IMF programmes, austerity and the economic climate since the 2007-8 global recession have meant that almost everywhere in the Caribbean state spending has been decreasing, leaving a negative legacy for future generations.
The unfortunate response of much of the region has been to turn inward; try to sit out what most still see as the effect of a slowly ending global recession, rather than something partly self-made; and to pursue instead, national self-interest while undertaking a policy of fiscal consolidation in ways that seem likely to frustrate short-term growth.
While wishing the world was in some way different appeals to broad strands of national and regional sentiment, it is unlikely to be the way in
