The 30th Meeting of Caricom heads failed to attract the requisite level of attention from the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to articulate their views on the need for reform.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, who chaired the three-day meeting, which ended yesterday, told reporters during a brief interview that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank wanted to send two junior representatives to hear the views of Caricom and he did not allow this to happen.
Caricom wants a say in decision-making in these institutions and a reform of the instruments through which they relate to smaller countries. Jagdeo cited the loan and grant instruments as two examples.
He explained that since small countries do not generate significant global investment they had a difficulty in demanding high level attention because “we don’t pose systemic risks”.
Jagdeo said Caricom would now have to revert to getting large countries sympathetic to its views so as to help push the agenda and lead a démarche in Washington and other countries.
“There has to be a reform to these instruments to give greater voice to the developing world,” Jagdeo insisted.
In terms of staving off economic peril given the current world financial crisis, Jagdeo said there was clearly a need to look at the mobilization of internal resources, so the region could use its own resources to push development.
He said there were significant reserves held outside the region, and a policy would have to be devised to invest those resources. He, however, acknowledged that this would be a sovereign issue.
Jagdeo said too that the region had to do things to make the Caribbean more attractive to non-traditional investors. He said India, China and Brazil were willing to assist through financial cooperation.
He acknowledged that many countries may need short-term assistance but bilateral sources may not be able to help immediately since they too are affected by the crisis.
He said the alternative is for the region to continue working with the IFIs to ensure that the money pledged at the G20 reaches to some countries quickly.
