CDB gives update of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors

Caribbean countries ended 2013 on a more solid economic footing than it had done since the start of the 2007/2008 global economic recession, according to figures released by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). 

The CDB, which is holding its 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors here, said that many of its borrowing member states (BMCs) recorded increases “albeit modest in economic activity”.

CDB President Dr. Warren Smith said, “At the regional level, growth and sustainability were recurring themes in discussions about performance”.

The CDB said that preliminary estimates indicate that the economic activity in the region grew by an average of 1.5 per cent last year, up slightly from a revised figure of 1.2 per cent for 2012.

The CDB said that moderate growth of between one and three per cent were recorded here in the Turk & Caicos Islands, in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Grenada, St. Vincent and St. Kitts and Nevis. These showed improved economic position to the general improvement in construction and tourism.

“Notably, there was significant public investment in critical economic infrastructure, including roads in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as construction of a new airport in St.Vincent and the Grenadines and airport expansions in Antigua and Barbuda and here in our Turks and Caicos Islands.