CARIBBEAN-FINANCE-CDB president issues warning to regional countries

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The Board of Governors of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) began a two-day meeting here with a warning to regional countries that while they urgently need to address their fiscal and debt issues, a narrow adjustment programme will be unsustainable.
CDB president Dr. Warren Smith told the opening ceremony attended by several government leaders, finance ministers as well as representatives from regional and international financial institutions that an optimal adjustment strategy cannot ignore the principal casualties of fiscal tightening.
“It ought to include mechanisms to cushion the impact on the most vulnerable, and provide practical pathways to their economic and social empowerment,” Smith said, noting that the ultimate route out of the fiscal and debt trap is robust economic growth.