PRESIDENT of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon has reiterated the call by CARICOM Heads of Government for President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s agricultural developmental vision to be fast-tracked.

Dr Leon made the appeal while delivering the feature address at the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) 2022 Annual meeting in the Turks and Caicos on Wednesday.

President Ali’s vision was part of the featured discussion recently, at the Agriculture Investment Forum and Exposition held in Guyana which was attended by several CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Heads of Government. It focused on reducing the region’s food imports by 25 per cent by 2025.

“As a region we must therefore focus on building a modern, competitive inclusive and resilient agricultural sector in which food and nutrition security have primacy of place and the potential for wealth creation as an attraction to young ‘agripreneurs’. At the recent agri-investment and food forum in Guyana, CARICOM Heads of Government expressed grave concern about food shortages, the high prices of imported food, fertilisers and other agricultural inputs and the limited options for transportation of agricultural products within the region. They have stressed the need for urgent action to take forward the vision for agricultural development championed by President Irfaan Ali of Guyana that targets a reduction in food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025,” the CBD President emphasised.

Senior Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, representing the Government of Guyana at the forum, reminded that the battle with COVID-19 is far from over since over the past seven days, 3.3 million new cases were reported worldwide, of which 2.3 million came from Europe and the Americas.

According to a release, he also noted the impact the pandemic has been having on global production, supply chains and shipping costs.

“The war in Ukraine has further dislocated supply of key commodities. For example, wheat prices have gone up by as much as 60 per cent, given that Russia and Ukraine account for 30 per cent of global wheat exports. The result is a delayed recovery from the pandemic, with sharp downward revision in growth forecasts and even sharper upward revision in inflation forecasts, raising the risk of stagflation. For us in the Caribbean, the vulnerabilities which we all knew prior to COVID-19 have now been laid bare,” Dr. Singh told the forum.

HEAVY DEBT BURDEN
Dr. Singh noted that simultaneously, the Caribbean continues to carry a heavy debt burden with 13 of its countries ending 2021 with a debt to GDP ratio of more than 60 per cent, and four countries ending the year with a ratio of above 100 per cent.

“The result is that our prospects for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals are even dimmer today than they were three years ago. The implication of all this is that the Caribbean needs the CDB – our bank – now more than ever as we tackle the longstanding problems of economic diversification, infrastructure gaps particularly in transport and energy, human capital development, access to basic social services, food security and, of course, climate vulnerability,” the minister said.

During the statement, Minister Singh said that the Caribbean needs the CDB now more than ever as it tackles the longstanding problems of economic diversification, infrastructure gaps particularly in transport and energy, human capital development, access to basic social services, food security and, of course, climate vulnerability.

In this regard, the release noted that he further highlighted three main issues for special focus by the bank including resource mobilisation and intermediation, which is a core function in the bank’s original mandate as he further commended the bank for the 2021 success in securing $383 million replenishment for the 10th Cycle of the Special Development Fund, along with its partnership with the United Kingdom on the Caribbean Infrastructure Fund.

STRONG RECORD
Secondly, Minister Singh urged that the bank pursue actively and aggressively, the maintenance of a strong record of project approvals and disbursements.

Thirdly, the minister urged that the bank use its incomparable convening authority in the region to support regional initiatives such as the commitment by the bank made at the Agriculture Investment Forum that it will use its best efforts to mobilise resources in support of a regional initiative to establish adequate and sustainable regional transportation, a historical impediment to regional trade, especially in agricultural produce.

Upon concluding, Minister Singh, on behalf of the Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs), thanked the distinguished Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the government and people of the country for their warm welcome and hospitality.

Also in attendance at the meeting were other officials including Nigel John Dakin, Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands; Charles Washington Misick, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands; Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); other Governors of the CDB and President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the release said.