– Charges Bank to remain responsive to member states
FINANCE Minister Dr. Ashni Singh last evening applauded Dr. Compton Bourne for his outstanding and dedicated service as the fourth President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The Caribbean region is immeasurably indebted to Bourne, Dr Singh told invitees to  an evening of appreciation held in Bourne’s honour by the CDB Board in Barbados, as the Guyanese-born academician approaches the end of his 10-year tenure as the Bank’s President.
In highlighting a number of the Bank’s achievements under Bourne’s stewardship, Dr Singh said: “Over the past ten years, the Bank has grown considerably, both in terms of absolute size, and in terms of volume of response to the financing needs of its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs).
“Today, total assets under management by the Bank amount to US$2.4 billion, compared with US$1.3 billion at the end of 2000; total financing approved last year for BMCs amounted to US$300 million, compared with US$187 million ten years ago; total disbursements amounted to US$327 million compared with US$94 million; and total net flows to BMCs grew even more steeply to US$180 million from US$28 million ten years ago.”
In terms of attracting new clients, Dr Singh said: “…today, the Bank counts among its membership a new BMC – Haiti – a sister Caribbean country with strong historical and cultural ties; and the Bank will soon count among its membership a new regional non-BMC – Brazil – a neighbour and hemispheric partner of strategic importance for the future.”
On the Bank’s performance otherwise, the minister said: “The Bank’s shareholders approved in 2010 the first general capital increase in 20 years, resulting in subscribed capital being increased by US$1 billion or 150 percent, allowing for a doubling of the lending programme over the next decade.
“The most recent replenishment round of the Special Development Fund saw a record total of US$257 million being pledged in 2009 for projects that target the Bank’s most vulnerable members and the region’s poorest communities.”
He also cited a number of projects implemented here, with the support of the CDB in recent years, using them as examples of the positive developmental impact the institution has had on the people of the Caribbean.
“For all these reasons and more,” he said, “Dr. Compton Bourne would be justifiable in every satisfaction and pride he might feel, and he would be deserving of every word of praise he will receive, for the work that the Bank has done and the impact it has had during his tenure.”
He also highlighted the considerable development challenges that still confront the Caribbean, stating that “while our region’s susceptibility to natural disasters and exposure to climate change have been known for some time, today our macroeconomic vulnerability and the fragility of our fiscal and external balances are laid bare.
“Limited fiscal space constrains the capacity for short term counter-cyclicality in the face of increased external volatility. At the same time, limited opportunities for real sector diversification, combined with the prohibitive fiscal cost of converting such opportunities where they do exist, result in dim long term prospects. This is the reality confronting our region today, and Dr. Compton Bourne has not shied away from defining that reality or from expending effort to find lasting solutions.”
On that note, he tasked the CDB with remaining a relevant and responsive development partner to its borrowing member countries beyond Bourne’s presidency. He emphasised that “it is to this task of reengineering the Caribbean economy that Dr. Bourne’s successors would be well charged to dedicate themselves. Indeed, no effort must be spared in ensuring that the CDB remains an adequately resourced, reliable and responsive partner, meeting the needs of BMCs by providing relevant technical expertise and timely financing, leveraging to the limit the advantages of physical proximity and local knowledge, and responding to local challenges in a manner that enables the Bank to be distinguished from its larger and more distant counterparts.”
Minister Singh commended Dr. Bourne’s contribution to the Bank and to the Caribbean, saying: “Dr. Compton Bourne’s portrait will soon join those of his illustrious predecessors in adorning the gallery of past Presidents at the CDB, but his contribution is already indelibly inscribed into the history of that institution. Just as we in Guyana are proud to claim him as a son of our soil, so do we celebrate him as an outstanding Regionalist, and the quintessential Caribbean national.”
He cautioned though that Dr. Bourne still has much to offer the region, indicating that while he would wish him every success and happiness in the future, “at the risk of incurring the wrath of Mrs. Bourne, I would make bold to say that I somehow doubt that the Governments and People of the Caribbean are ready to allow Dr. Compton Bourne a quiet retirement into the Caribbean sunset, whether it be the Guyanese, Trinidadian or Barbadian sunset.”
The evening of appreciation in Dr. Bourne’s honour was also attended by former CARICOM Secretary-General, Sir Edwin Carrington, and by the Ministers of Finance of Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada.
Dr. Bourne formally demits office at the end of next month, and will be succeeded by Dr. Warren Smith of Jamaica.