WILDEY, Barbados — The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is looking to disburse more funds to its member countries in 2024 following its record US$390-million disbursement in 2023.

This was announced at the CDB’s annual news conference which was held at its headquarters in St Michael, Barbados. The CDB had a US$1.88-billion loan portfolio at the end of September spread across its 19 member countries through various programmes. These included US$125 million in budgetary support to The Bahamas and US$43 million to St Lucia for different projects.

“These loans help to deepen reforms in public financial management while providing liquidity support. Notably, our total disbursements for our projects and technical assistance reached a record US$390 million from the existing loan portfolio. Under the bank’s flagship poverty reduction programme, otherwise known as the Basic Needs Trust Fund Programme, close to 100 sub-projects are under implementation, representing an investment of US$30 million,” said Therese Turner Jones, CDB director of the projects department, in her presentation.

The CDB’s different projects assisted with various technical and social programmes to uplift different communities across the region while seeking to prepare its members to meet its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They reference the opening of the Caribbean’s first therapeutic centre at the Maxfield Park Children’s Home in Jamaica as one of the social goals aimed at assisting in tackling poverty reduction and improving lives. It’s against this backdrop that the CDB aims to complete 54 projects including school and livelihood enhancements, 15 water and sanitation systems and 24 projects to improve community access and drainage.

“In 2023, CDB in partnership with the International Trade Centre assessed select countries logistics performance and made recommendations for improving them. Some key recommendations included digitalisation of trade and customs processes, investments in modern air and seaport infrastructure, distribution centres and storage facilities for the efficient movement of goods, modernisation of customs, immigration and tariff rules to facilitate trade and remove barriers and implementation of information systems with data capture, sharing and inventory control to create transparency and optimised logistics,” noted Ian Durant, the Director of the economics department, in his presentation around technical assistance provided.

A few of the major announcements also included the announcement of the SURGE (Supporting Resilient and Green Energy) initiative which is a CA$58.5-million programme in partnership with the Canadian Government to assist with the continued push for green energy goals. Although it is still in the technical stage, Turner Jones noted that everyone should stay tuned for more.

When several journalists asked about the situation surrounding CDB President Dr Hyginus “Gene” Leon who is currently under investigation, acting President Isaac Solomon noted that they wouldn’t comment on the matter to avoid prejudicing the matter. The CDB Annual News Conference was originally scheduled for January 23 before it was pushed back.

“We have to look at the whole process of identification, conceptualisation and ideation of projects that will ultimately redound to the benefit of the citizens of the region. That is the part of the exercise that we’re doing. It’s going to be inclusive in a way that we have not done before to ensure that we garner the perspective of all stakeholders because in a sense, we contribute to the implementation deficit to a degree. We recognise that the implementation deficit doesn’t look the same in all countries,” Solomon responded to the upcoming study aimed at improving disbursal and implementation of projects across the region.