CDB Projects Return to Economic Growth in 2021: CARICOM BUSINESS
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is reporting that the economies of its 19 Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) contracted by 12.8% on average in 2020 but is projecting an average GDP growth of 3.8% in 2021.
According to the Bank in 2020, the majority of BMCs registered double-digit declines in GDP. Countries with significant tourism industries, such as The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, and Grenada, were hard-hit by a more than 70% drop in overnight visitors in 2020.
According to the Bank, the Jamaican economy declined by 10.4%, Belize contracted by 13.3% while Trinidad and Tobago fell by 11.1% after being hard-hit by a fall in oil prices. Guyana was the only economy to record economic growth (26%), solely due to the start-up of its first oil production. In 2020, the regional debt-to-GDP average moved from 66.5% to 79.5% whereas primary fiscal balances worsened in every BMC, averaging -4.1% of GDP compared with -1.3% in 2019. Unemployment rates increased in most countries during the year. (CDB)
Extract from CARICOM BUSINESS Newsleter Vol 4 No 8
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