FINANCE Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has been elected as chairman of the Board of Governors of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) for 2022.

Dr Clarke’s nomination was announced by the governor for Paraguay, Oscar Llamosas Díaz, and seconded by the temporary alternate governor for Canada, Andrew Hurst.

They were speaking at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest Annual Meeting

While announcing the nomination Diaz said “because of his great leadership and his ability to bolster public finances in his country we are sure that his vision, commitment and leadership will also guide us in this process to renew and strengthen the IDB Group as the needs of our countries and the region currently demands”.

Hurst later chimed in highlighting that the decision was unanimous.

In his remarks, Dr Clarke noted that he is grateful for the nomination and stated that Jamaica has enjoyed a beneficial relationship with the IDB since 1962 when the island became a member of the organisation.

“The IDB, as Jamaica’s largest creditor, has played an integral role in supporting our growth and development objectives. Jamaica looks forward to deepening our partnership with the IDB as we continue to recover and reform, as we seek to position ourselves as an economy that is open and ready for private sector investment that can catalyse sustainable and inclusive growth — even as we pursue public investments geared towards human capital, social and infrastructural development,” said Clarke.

Outgoing Chairman Juan Camilo Restrepo, who is the governor for Colombia, noted that there’s a lot of work to be done given the volatile social, political and economic climate.

“The [novel coronavirus] pandemic has left deep scars in the economy of our region. We have witnessed over this time significant increases in poverty and vulnerability. The vulnerabilities of our economies have been laid bare, public health is only now stabilising, and migration flows have also changed. We are dealing with uncertainty which has been aggravated given the current geopolitical situation,” Restrepo stated.

With that said, Dr Clarke disclosed that there are certain issues which he hopes will dominate the discussions over the coming days in order to transform the development models of the region.

Among them are: Private sector participation, innovation, public-private partnerships, and technological advancements.

“It is critical that the bank leverages its strong presence in the region to support our countries in addressing issues such as sustainable growth, digitalisation, poverty reduction and social protection, gender equality, human capital development, economic resilience, and climate change vulnerability,” said Clarke.

He continued “increasing the capital of the IDB to better support private sector-led recovery across the region could hardly come at a better time”.

The Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors started on March 28 and will run through to April 1, 2022.

Dr Clarke will chair the boards until the next annual meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Panama.

The governors are the highest policy-formulation authorities of the IDB and IDB Invest. Governors are typically ministers of finance, ministers of the economy, or central bank presidents of their countries.

Dr Clarke is the third Jamaican national to assume this role. The other two were David Coore in 1973 and Eric Bell in 1979.