Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
PRESIDENT OF the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr. Compton Bourne says the pessimism about accelerating economic growth in the region is not warranted.
The growth in real economic output in 2005 slowed across the region according to preliminary data. While five countries had higher levels of output in 2005 compared with 2004, all the others recorded lower rates of growth, with actual output contractions occurring in Guyana and in Montserrat.
Despite setbacks such as the structural changes in the relationship between Europe and the Caribbean, global tariff liberalisation and public sector indebtedness, there still remain numerous opportunities for growth, he stated. Dr. Bourne was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 36th annual meeting of the CDB's board of governors in Montego Bay, on Wednesday.
"There are many opportunities for the resuscitation of economic growth and several favourable conditions for making it happen," Mr. Bourne said. "An important starting point is to recognise that both non-regional markets and regional markets are important sources of growth."
Small enterprises have the potential to satisfy much of the greatly expanded regional demand for agricultural products, manufactured goods and tourism services with nationally beneficial effects on employment, labour incomes and economic and social stability, he said.
Several of the region's more dynamic business enterprises have successfully developed markets and investment ventures in tourism, agro-processed commodities, marketing related services and financial services in Brazil Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and elsewhere in Latin America. Surely more can follow."
Speaking specifically to sectoral and industry prospects, Mr. Bourne said that greater attention must be paid to the regional demand segment of the tourism industry.
Regional tourism, i.e., the region's residents as tourists within the Caribbean is an undervalued and inadequately supported component of the industry,? he said, noting that it was regional demand which lent some stability to the tourism industry in Barbados in the aftermath of 9/11.
"Production of tourism services for the regional market could be structured around small owner - operated hotels with greater inter-industry linkages to the domestic agriculture sector. The eco-tourism of Belize and Dominica and the safari tourism potential of Guyana are other possibilities for tourism product diversification," Dr. Bourne continued.
Also highlighting tremendous possibilities in the mining and energy sector, Mr. Bourne said that the Caribbean had tremendous human capacity, especially if moved towards greater inclusion of its youth, but noted that none of these possibilities will materialise unless the governments give concentrated attention to their development and put in place the requisite supportive policies.
