The World Bank is advising small Caribbean countries that they accelerate private-sector development improving their respective investment climate.
In its latest report which was released on Friday and titled, “The Caribbean Regional Private Sector Diagnostic (RPSD)” the organization noted measures to reduce cross-cutting constraints to private investment, such as gaps in connectivity and skills mismatches, and break the region’s current low-growth, low-productivity trend.
Countries covered by the report included Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
According to the World Bank, these countries “face major cross-cutting constraints and addressing them would foster an environment more conducive to trade, investment and growth”.
“These constraints are gaps in trade policy, trade facilitation, and connectivity; skills mismatches; limited access to finance, especially for small and medium enterprises; and vulnerability to climate change,” it added.
World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean countries, Lilia Burunciuc, further advised that to realise the economic potential of the Caribbean, there is a need to bolster regional linkages and economic diversification and move to greener and more inclusive growth.
The report further added that the Caribbean countries suffer from frictions that raise their cost of trade and hamper their competitiveness.
It explained that tariff and non-tariff measures, weak trade facilitation, and poor transport connectivity make trade expensive and depress export volumes.
In this regard, the World Bank recommended the establishment of national and regional trade facilitation committees, digitisation and simplification of trade procedures, and increase of supply and efficiency of air and marine cargo shipping.
The study also examined two key sectors; the digital economy and renewable energy, in which greater private investment could contribute to export diversification and job creation, enhance productivity, and strengthen resilience to climate change and natural disasters.
