Economic Crisis talks underway in Barbados

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC



Regional leaders and key finance officials began a one-day emergency meeting here Wednesday expressing shared optimism that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) can navigate through the present economic crisis.



The Bridgetown gathering, convened at the request of Eastern Caribbean governments, comes amid the worsening global situation that is already impacting on major sectors of economic activity in the region.



“We’re suffering from the fallout of the international crisis but it is not beyond us to sort out the difficulties, which we have. We have done so in the past and I am quite confident that this meeting will be an important watershed going forward,” said St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who is chairing the meeting that was also called to seek a coordinated approach to regulating the financial sector across the region.



“I think before the end of the day we should be on the way to quelling any anxieties which may exist,” added Gonsalves.



There’s also growing instability in the financial services sector arising out of money trouble at CL Financial, one the region’s largest conglomerates, which has had to turn to the Trinidad and Tobago government for a multi-billion dollar bailout package.



A recent run by depositors on an Antigua-based bank, owned by the Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, who, along with others in his company, are accused of perpetrating financial fraud of a “shocking magnitude” against unsuspecting investors, has also added to woes of regional governments.



Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who along with the Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson, was invited to attend by his colleagues from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), admitted that the situation was quite challenging but also suggested that the problems were not insurmountable.



Host Prime Minister Thompson is hopeful of a “unified and consistent approach” to the current challenges.



“I think the essence of what should come out of this meeting…is that we need to be more vigilant and we need to work together and we need to find mechanisms that will help us achieve that particular objective,” Thompson said.



He also used the occasion to call on Central Bank Governors and other financial regulators in attendance to meet on a weekly basis to be in a better position to jointly cope with the challenges confronting the region.



The Barbadian leader said the weekly meetings, which he suggested take the form of a teleconference-type setting, would allow regulators to “keep abreast of the important issues that are affecting our financial markets and keep us informed, on a real time basis, of the concerns that may arise and make recommendations as to how we can actually deal with those challenges”.



Also attending the Bridgetown meeting are the leaders of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat and St Lucia, who are also scheduled to gather in Belize next week for the CARICOM Inter-sessional Summit from March 12.