Senator Darcy Boyce gives update – on the CARICOM Commission on the Economy

The CARICOM Commission on the Economy is pressing ahead with its efforts to generate economic growth and employment in Caribbean countries.

According to Senator Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, who serves as Chair of the CARICOM Commission on the Economy, the Commission has already identified opportunities for private sector investment in energy, tourism, information and communications technology and infrastructure, to generate economic growth and employment and work has also started on identifying similar opportunities in agriculture, agro-industry, and international business and financial services.

Senator Boyce, noted the above, as he spoke at the 2014 Caribbean Exporters’ Colloquium held at the Hilton Hotel this week.

Boyce told industry leaders that the Commission has recognised that macroeconomic stability is not sufficient to be a catalyst for growth in CARICOM States and will therefore provide advice on implementable solutions to return CARICOM economies to a path of sustainable growth and development.

Boyce further pointed out that all these initiatives are being examined from five perspectives: Short-term projects that can be implemented within a year and achieve some impact, while medium-term and longer-term projects are being developed; Private sector investment, both local and foreign, and private sector execution; Starting projects in any regional country that is ready to move and then replicating the projects in other countries as those other countries become ready; Grouping infrastructure projects in several countries into large investment blocks that are more financially viable to achieve critical mass and to make them more attractive to private investors; and Achieving investment in economic growth, without adding to the fiscal strain and debt burdens of countries.

“Our view is that we cannot wait for projects to be developed and executed only at the regional level, requiring consensus and thus moving at the pace of the slowest, but that we should proceed at the speed of the willing. We cannot postpone the effort to generate economic growth and employment and thus to build economic resilience,” Boyce stated.

“In all this, we are acutely conscious of the need to improve business processes to best standards both in public administration and private sector operations and so are also looking at how to encourage countries to implement structural and institutional reforms that reduce the hindrances to investment and trade and advance efficient resource allocation,” he also commented. (RSM)