The World Bank’s International Comparison Program (ICP) released its data recently, which uses the most thoroughly developed methodology yet to compare the income of 179 countries in 2011. This is the first time the Caribbean countries participate in the exercise. The program constructs GDP from detailed expenditure data for all countries using the so-called purchasing … [Read more...] about How Rich are the Caribbean Countries if Compared Globally?
Economy & Investment
Shaping the Future of Treasure Beach, Jamaica
Treasure Beach is a small, interesting and dynamic community with a great sense of its own identity whose main areas of economic activity are tourism, fishing and farming. However, the need for growth in all three sectors has led to the formation of a complex tourism cluster comprising small hotels, villas and guest houses; restaurants; tour companies and operators; … [Read more...] about Shaping the Future of Treasure Beach, Jamaica
Top Five Reasons to Love Development Work in the Caribbean
I keep getting variations of these same questions and comments about working in economic development in the Caribbean: “You work on the Caribbean? Haha…. Tough job...Take me on your next mission (work trip) and we’ll grab a 3pm piña colada on the beach” “Caribbean countries are so small and they’re already middle income countries… you should try real development work like in … [Read more...] about Top Five Reasons to Love Development Work in the Caribbean
Dog, Cockroaches and White Elephants
Yesterday, Day 1 of a conference on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs, 3Ps or P3s) in the Caribbean, I heard references to these animals and creepy crawlers. As a new dog owner I took offense, as did several others. Speakers were trying to explain that a badly designed PPP turns out to be a dog, or a cockroach or a white elephant. Whichever is more palatable as a … [Read more...] about Dog, Cockroaches and White Elephants
Solid Foundation
Strengthening public fiduciary systems have received a considerable amount of attention on a global scale in the last few decades. So far, attempting Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms has been perplexing for most developing countries with not much to show in terms of desired results and impact. Many factors have been posited for this including; the lack of … [Read more...] about Solid Foundation