The Barbados-based Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) has warned that foreign borrowing thwarts the region’s efforts to achieve sustainable social and economic progress across the region.
Urging regional governments to rethink the current development model they have pursued since independence, Officer-in-Charge of the regional civil society think tank Richard Jones declared that the current structure of Caribbean economies was not designed for sustainable development, as it was dominated by borrowing from international financial institutions.
“Our dependence on borrowing from our former colonial masters and the Western financial system for our economic stability each year is a glaring example of the unjust and unequal international financial system that we confront,” he said.
Addressing civil society representatives in Grenada, Jones said reimagining development was about “more than just debt management”.
He said the region has reached a critical juncture in charting a way forward to sustainable growth, arguing that historical pathways guiding Caribbean societies and economies are being tested and evolving.
“How our region prepares itself and our people to renegotiate our place within the systemically dynamic and emerging global and hemispheric space will be critical to our long-term sustainable development,” he said.
Jones shared that many civil society representatives are also of the view that regional leaders need to re-examine political visioning and policymaking in the region.
“CPDC shares some of these views and perspectives as we believe that countries in the region, such as Grenada, must move beyond traditional economic debt management planning to include and emphasise sustainable economic development for all our people. This would require bold steps to challenge the unequal international financial architecture and also adopt local solutions to improve our health and economic well-being,” he indicated.
He proposed reducing dependence on loans from Western multilateral and private creditors by increasing the use of local resources strategically. This could involve greater utilisation of agri-products, alternative energy sources, and the implementation of accountability and transparency laws to minimise adverse impacts of foreign debt.
Jones also called for increased pressure on former colonial powers for a reparations-based approach to finance a new development model for the Caribbean. He stressed the importance of advocacy from governments and civil society to push forward an agenda to seek reparations for slavery and colonisation.
“Complimentary to these suggestions is the need for our region to escalate the pressure on our former colonial masters for a reparatory approach to finance a new development model for the Caribbean,” he told the NGOs in Grenada.
While noting that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has begun to advocate for reparations, he contended that greater advocacy demands support from governments across the region as well as from civil society to push the agenda. Reparation funds, he maintained, could then be made available to create an innovative, robust economy and society driven primarily by non-state actors, referring to civil society organisations.
Jones cautioned that borrowing today burdens future generations and underscored the need for awareness and development of national positions on the looming debt crisis.
The Barbados-based CPDC, an umbrella body of Caribbean non-governmental organisations, has been hosting national civil society consultations on sovereign debt as part of a regional campaign supported by Debt Justice UK, the Open Society Foundation (OSF), and Funders Organised for Rights in the Global Economy (FORGE). Consultations have been held here and in Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname, Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago.
(CPDC/BT)
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