SPENCER
ST JOHN'S, Antigua (CMC):
FINANCE MINISTER Dr. Errol Cort says Antigua and Barbuda may not meet the March 31 deadline set by countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to be part of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market (CSM).
Cort told reporters that it was likely that the Baldwin Spencer administration would be ready to join the regional initiative by the end of June this year.
OECS countries have said they would be placed at a disadvantage if they join the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) without adequate measures to deal with their potential loss of revenue.
The CSME is intended to allow for the free movement of skills, labour, goods and services across the region, and six Caribbean government leaders are expected to sign the accord allowing for the CSM component of the initiative in Jamaica on January 30.
US$10 MILLION FUND
The regional countries have announced the establishment of a US$10 million Regional Development Fund (RDF) to help the OECS countries participate in the CSME.
The US$10 million dollar fund "is not the be all and end all of it because there is a committee led by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to look at the formula for which member states will make their contribution through the fund and also among other things to establish criteria as to how to assess the fund," a CARICOM official noted late last year.
THE POSITION
Caribbean Finance Ministers will meet in Jamaica on January 31 to further discuss the RDF.
Cort told reporters "in some quarters it is felt that until the RDF is established and fully operationalised, the OECS as a group should not be eager to activate the whole CSME process."
"I wish to just put that on the table. I am not saying that that is our position, but clearly it is a position that the OECS as a group may wish to look at and to fully discuss," he added.
He said the RDF should be activated to assist the disadvantaged countries.
"That fund is a very critical arm of the activation of the Single Market and Economy, because clearly, once you are talking about the single market, you may have winners, you would have losers and for those countries that may not benefit as much, we are of the view that you must have this fund in place that would cushion some of the negative impact that may arise from the full implementation of the Single Market."
