Welcome to Caribbean DevTrends! The Caribbean Country Department of the Inter-American Development Bank has one job: doing our part to make the Caribbean grow.
We are the single largest multilateral source of financing for Government development projects, but we still haven’t figured out how to expand our lending to the private sector. We use our technical expertise to create high quality analytical work that helps public policy making in the Caribbean. Our focus:
- Spark a new growth trend that is inclusive and equitable. The private sector needs to be the engine of growth.
- Restore macroeconomic stability. Many countries are in a debt trap that stifles growth.
- Address the risks of climate change which will add to vulnerability as reflected in external shocks like higher energy prices.
- Improve living standards which are being threatened. Everyone in the region should be active in finding ways to protect and increase them.
We decided to create Caribbean DevTrends to encourage open sharing of ideas and information that shed light on the way forward. We intend that this freer exchange become a powerful impetus to innovative and useful initiatives. We hope to spark a new period of strong growth in the Caribbean. We expect your sincere and enthusiastic participation in Caribbean DevTrends!
Gerard Johnson is the General Manager of the Caribbean Country Department at the IDB.
Wonderful!
I fully agree that the private sector needs to be the engine of growth and will be challenged with the task of restoring and stabilizing the microeconomy. Beyond this and perhaps out of the reach of the private sector is the development of human capacity to fuel that engine for growth. I think there is need to focus on how we implement measures to provide training to move us a notch on this continuum. I suggest that we have a discussion on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and how we position this mechanism to stimulate economic growth.