As Caribbean governments continue to contemplate a way back from the devastation inflicted on the region’s respective economies arising out of the still raging coronavirus, outgoing President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr William Warren Smith says that as part of the recovery process, countries should cede a bigger role to their respective private sectors.
“Our bias should be towards a larger role for the private sector in stimulating economic growth, providing jobs, and earning foreign exchange through exports,” Smith told the virtual 10th UK-Caribbean Ministerial forum last week. Smith also highlighted two additional priorities for charting economic recovery and securing resilience to counter the region’s response to the COVID-19 fallout, namely, building buffers and diversifying economies.
Last week’s forum, chaired by British Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lord Tariq Ahmad, was convened to enable high-level talks on priority issues for the Caribbean including a comprehensive COVID-19 response, climate change, security, and trade.
