More robust financial backing for its member countries is one of the standout undertakings given by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) through its president, Dr Warren Smith, in Barbados last week.
The bank, Smith told the customary annual media briefing, was concerned about the consolidation of the governance framework of the respective member countries in order to better position them to access concessionary funding.
Central to the CDB’s concerns, according to Dr. Smith, is the gap between approval and disbursement of bank funding, a circumstance that has resulted from missed targets, human capacity problems, and implementation challenges.
Last year the CDB’s Board of Directors approved funds for capital projects, policy-based operations and technical assistance totalling US$347 million while disbursements rose to US$305 million in the same year. Accordingly, the bank’s president stated that building capacity in the region was one of the institution’s preoccupations in pursuit of the goal of improving the lives of the people of the region.
Among the responsibilities of the bank’s Board of Directors is that of guiding general policy and direction, including responsibility for decisions concerning loans, guarantees and other investments for Borrowing Member Countries. (BMC’s).
At the Barbados news conference last week, the bank’s Director of Projects, Daniel Best, said that 2019 had been the fourth consecutive year of increases in disbursements, a circumstance which he attributed to the institution’s “ongoing focus on supervision.” Best pointed to the need for the Bank’s member countries to receive technical support in order to better position them to successfully implement CDB-approved and financed projects.
CDB, he said, is pushing technical support for borrowing countries to assure effective implementation of bank-funded projects. He went on to stress that capacity-building in the countries of the region was an area of key interest in the march towards improving the lives of citizens.
