KINGSTON, Jamaica — Director of Economics at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Ian Durant, says increasing competitiveness has to be the top priority for inducing strong and inclusive growth and overcome the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at the seminar “Reimagining Caribbean Economies in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic”, held virtually this morning as part of CDB’s 51st Annual Meeting, Durant explained that the region’s economies were small with no reserve currencies and were heavily reliant on imports to maintain standards of living.

“This means that increasing gross domestic product, increasing incomes and improving standards of living in a sustainable way requires export growth. But this export growth must be diverse to ensure that there are no major setbacks when one export industry is affected by a shock. In turn, diversification requires enhanced competitiveness,” Durant said.

Highlighting the way forward for increasing competitiveness, he said, “First, at the centre of our strategies must be digitalisation and physical resilience. We need to create digital citizens with access to the internet and services online.”

Noting the geographical location of Caribbean countries, Durant said it is equally important to improve physical resilience to natural hazards, and to upgrade infrastructure that makes it easy and quick to transit the country. He said improving governance to hold senior officials accountable and keep them focused on national development objectives, is also key.

In his presentation, Durant shared the deep impact which COVID-19 had on Caribbean countries, noting that 13 of CDB’s 19 borrowing member countries (BMCs) recorded double-digit declines in gross domestic product (GDP), with an average downturn of 7.2 per cent in 2020. Regional exports also fell by 26 per cent while imports decreased by 27 per cent in 2020 and BMCs that had debt-to-GDP ratios above 60 per cent increased to 13 in 2020, compared to nine in 2019, the bank reported.

The CDB projected a moderate, average growth of 3.4 per cent in BMCs in 2021, and a slow return to debt sustainability in the region, with only countries exporting services, reaching an average of 60 per cent in 2026/27, while the debt-to GDP ratio of commodities exporting countries will stay at about 80 per cent throughout this decade.