My September 23rd article used a quote from the prime minister’s keynote speech at the 10th Caribbean Infrastructure Forum (CARIF) that “Jamaica will become the Singapore of the Caribbean”. The recent National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) debate here begs the question as to what would be required to achieve this infrastructure ambition.

A look back at the forum may help. The very first event ‘Financing Caribbean Growth: Mobilising Capital for Project Delivery’ was actually an invitation-only breakfast discussion by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the world’s first export credit agency established in 1919.

Of note, UKEF is ranked number one in the world for “sustainable” finance, and the session highlighted how UKEF’s government-backed financing solutions can support infrastructure delivery, offering guarantees backed by the UK Government’s credit rating, repayment tenors of up to 22 years for clean growth projects (with up to a 95 per cent guarantee of the value of goods or services on contracts) and the ability to finance local costs alongside UK goods and services.

UKEF is actually willing to guarantee contracts with as low as 20 per cent UK content, a potentially very big opportunity for the region in the context of next week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Antigua.

According to Judith Huijnen, the new regional head for the Commonwealth Caribbean for UKEF, a Bahamian based in Nassau, Bahamas, “One of the most valuable aspects of the discussion was the opportunity to listen”.

She correctly argued that “while access to capital remains important, the greater challenge is often developing a pipeline of projects that are sufficiently mature, structured, and prepared to attract financing. Discussions repeatedly centred on project readiness, procurement frameworks, risk allocation and the practical steps required to move projects from concept to implementation.” This is a key objective of the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) One Caribbean.

She added that similar ambitions to Jamaica were evident throughout the forum.

“Suriname is exploring opportunities to diversify beyond oil and gas into sectors such as agriculture and tourism, Barbados is advancing renewable energy and housing initiatives, and governments across the region are examining ways to accelerate project delivery and attract greater private sector participation.”

In short, Caribbean governments are increasingly focused on improving project preparation, strengthening delivery mechanisms and building confidence among investors and lenders
— all areas where export credit agencies can play an important role to help bridge the gap.

CIBC Caribbean, long the region’s leading investment bank, has been the lead sponsor for CARIF for 10 years. Its Chief Country and Commercial Officer Donna Wellington, in her opening reflections, observed that CARIF had become one of the “Caribbean’s foremost platforms for networking and dialogue, leading to partnerships, and most importantly, action.”

She added: “We in the Caribbean have never lacked vision. Where we have consistently stumbled is in its execution.”

True words.

Wellington also stressed that achieving development will require collaboration.

“The scale of the challenge demands collaboration among governments, multilateral institutions, private investors, pension funds, commercial banks, infrastructure developers, technology providers, and local entrepreneurs.”

During the subsequent panel on ‘The mechanics of bankable projects’, CIBC Caribbean Senior Director, Head of Corporate Banking and Sustainable Finance Kemar Polius underscored the importance of building investor confidence from the earliest stages of project development.

“Capital follows confidence: confidence in sponsors, confidence in cash flows, confidence in regulatory frameworks, and confidence in contracting,” Polius said.

Digital and financial Infrastructure

Former leading CIBC investment banker Isabel de Caries, now director of the Caribbean at IDB Invest for corporates, identified digital readiness as a critical infrastructure deficit.

“On the digital panel we discussed how infrastructure cannot be delivered one asset at a time. Demand now extends well beyond basic connectivity to the full digital value chain: quality, resilience, security, data processing, and digital services. Meeting that demand requires systems thinking. That means reliable power, diverse connectivity, coordinated regulation across fragmented island markets, bankable structures, and demand aggregated across public and private users. Digital also improves how other infrastructure performs, from utilities and ports to hospitals and emergency response.”

WELLINGTON… we in the Caribbean have never lacked vision, where we have consistently stumbled is in its execution

One aspect of this digital deficit was addressed by new Bank of Jamaica Governor Dr Brian Langrin as the key focus of his keynote address to the Institute of Chartered Accountants at their excellent 2026 Business Conference on October 8, under the theme ‘Integrity in Action. Value in Motion’.

In a far-reaching presentation, Langrin argued that the next stage of Jamaica’s financial resilience required “trusted value in motion” as part of creating a wider digital payments system that can provide a trusted payment “rail”, not only for merchant transactions but for public transfers and disaster relief, meaning digital cash that can still function after an event like Hurricane Melissa, which left severe damage across Jamaica’s western third last October.

As he noted “Financial buffers, insurance proceeds, and public resources were available, but damaged roads, interrupted telecommunications, and closed access point prevented value from reaching households and businesses with the speed the crisis demanded.”

If Langrin can achieve this long-awaited revolution he should be a candidate for the Order of Jamaica, just like his predecessor Richard Byles.

Energy infrastructure

Yesterday, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) held a very timely energy summit under the theme ‘Powering forward – Rebuilding Jamaica’s Energy Future after Hurricane Melissa’ just two weeks after the 18th Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) in Panama. Jamaica Public Service CEO Hugh Grant (who had also been a panellist at both CARIF and CREF) spoke along with PSOJ President Patrick Hylton, while McKinsey partner Anton Derlach presented on ‘Global Energy Trends’.

Interestingly, the very informative PSOJ opening panel session titled ‘Energy as a catalyst for growth’ had essentially the same theme as the opening panel in the CREF forum ‘Energy security as a Foundation for Growth’, the latter including Jamaica energy expert Stephen Wedderburn. Likewise another key issue at CREF ‘Capital Flows into Caribbean Energy: What’s actually Getting financed’, again by CIBC’s Kemar Polius, rhymes strongly with our situation in Jamaica.

As the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce unsurprisingly reported yesterday that consumer confidence had fallen to a post-Melissa low, the time now seems right to again look at a ‘A programme for national recovery’ based on a social partnership approach to help achieve agreement on Jamaica’s most difficult problems, with energy as the most urgent and perhaps most important.

More next week.