The effects of the current economic climate on member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the framework within which the regional grouping can achieve growth and development will be a major agenda item at the upcoming Thirty-fourth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom which begins tomorrow.The current economic scenario, including the slow recovery from the global financial and economic crises, heavy debt burdens and other exogenous developments such as the policy of graduation by international financial institutions have had debilitating effects on the economies of Caricom.
Dr Kenny Anthony laid out the situation starkly when he addressed the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) a month ago. The region's vulnerabilities, he pointed out then, were fully exposed by a global economic climate that was "complex, uncertain and worrisome"."The crisis that we face was not of our making. We did not precipitate it... What could well be our fault is how we handle the aftermath of the crisis, how we re-position our economies in that elusive search for growth," he said.