ACCORDING to Trinidad & Tobago’s Daily Express of October 6, 2022, the twin-island republic’s Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert said Port-of-Spain can no longer sustain its contributions to the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF), “because it no longer had the revenues…”

The article went on to say that it was suggested that “… it might be feasible for CARICOM countries to ask Guyana to take a more dominant role in this fund.”
The minister was responding to questions from a fellow parliamentarian during a Standing Finance Committee meeting on October 5, as to whether a TT$105 million increase in the CDF contribution represented arrears.

Minister Imbert said the fund “was established in a time of plenty”. This was clarified to mean between 2005 and 2006 when the twin-island republic saw major returns from its oil.
This, in other words, would have been “when oil was US$140 a barrel and gas US$13, and there was a view that T&T, because it was in a good economic position, should assist the less fortunate member states within CARICOM,” that country’s national assembly heard.

But, he said, “there are questions about… whether the T&T Government should continue to provide funding of this magnitude.”
Undoubtedly, Guyana can take a bow for the Trinidad & Tobago Finance Minister’s Vote of Confidence in its often demonstrated will to assist CARICOM neighbours.

As the minister also acknowledges, the final decision is with Guyana. Georgetown’s decision, on the other hand, is or will be a purely domestic matter that will not necessarily be based on Port-of-Spain’s ability to live-up to its regional commitments.

As the minister noted, his nation’s commitment was made at “a time of plenty”, but this was no longer possible because his country’s fortunes have changed.
Trinidad & Tobago knows the full extent of both opposites that energy-dependent economies can face if leaders are not careful in their planning. The minister also knows Guyana is taking a different approach to its future as an oil-based economy by learning from the many global examples of not doing it correctly.

That’s why, under the President, Dr Irfaan Ali administration, Guyana, also early in a time of plenty, has been very busy laying the basis for a future of economic development which includes a heavy emphasis on agricultural development, food security, improving energy efficiency, and increasing manufacturing.

Guyana, as the seat of the CARICOM Secretariat, has always been a sharing bilateral and multilateral regional partner, both in good times and bad.
Even though better times are smiling on us at present, we also continue to be a member of the international community, borrowing and applying for regional and international assistance to ensure continuity and sustainability of important long-term national programmes like education, like any other developing country in the world.

Guyana is still creeping where Trinidad & Tobago walked and ran eons ago. And so, while well-intentioned, Minister Imbert’s recommendation for CARICOM states to “call on Guyana to take a more dominant role” in the regional development fund may be a bit far-fetched and probably also too fast-forward.

But be that as it may, after all is said and done, Guyana can only reassure the minister that it will never shirk its regional responsibilities. We have seen the strong thrust in this regard under President Ali and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government.

The minister and the region can also rest assured that Guyana will do its best, within its means and as a member-state of CARICOM, under all circumstances, to offer sustainable levels and degrees of assistance to regional programmes to which it is a signatory.

The assistance, however, will always take history and existing possibilities into account.