There is need to tap into the wealth of the Caribbean's highly-educated diaspora, so each territory can cope with challenges such as low growth, high debt, mitigation of natural disaster risk and managing financial sector stress. This view was expressed by Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran when he spoke at yesterday's opening ceremony of the Fifth Biennial International Business, Banking and Finance conference.
"The minimum size of the Caribbean diaspora is estimated at around 3.5 million people or more than one-fifth of the region's population, whose annual savings amount to over 15 per cent of the region's GDP," he said."The Caribbean's diaspora pool therefore represents a potential alternative source of long-term funding. Diaspora bonds are viable instruments which enable the region to borrow from its diaspora community."
Rambarran said diaspora bonds offer investors the opportunity to help their country of origin while also providing an investment opportunity. While he called for investing to be done within Caribbean territories, Rambarran said financial institutions in the Caribbean need to tighten their regulations ito cope with a crisis."We need to consider a regional approach to managing risks arising from financial integration in the Caribbean. Growing cross-border linkages require central banks and other regulators to strengthen arrangements for crisis management, develop mechanisms for early coordinated intervention in cross border institutions, and review adequacy of deposit insurance schemes," he said.
The two-day conference, Re-engineering Growth: Doing Business in the New Global Environment, is jointly hosted by the University of the West indies, St Augustine Campus, the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance, the Central Bank of T&T and the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies.
