Director of Economics at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB, the Bank), Ian Durant encouraged regional governments to be intentional about improving the ecosystem within which businesses operate to make them more dynamic and internationally competitive. Speaking at a recent launch event, he noted that while there are laudable business ideas being generated, especially for agro-processed products, the ability of firms to achieve competitive prices, meet quality thresholds for market access and maintain a reliable supply to meet market demand are all dependent on improvements to the current operating environment.

During a panel discussion for a new IDB study on the private sector, Durant challenged the region’s governments to provide the facilitative legislative frameworks, supporting institutions and infrastructure to help realize the potential of creative entrepreneurs. Citing the structural features of the region’s economies – small and open with no reserve currencies - he indicated that “Sustained growth and improvements in standards of living regionally must be accompanied by high, diverse, prolonged export growth. Such export growth must be diverse and requires that the private sector operate in an ecosystem that promotes internationally competitive firms.”

Adding that the Bank is working to address several of these issues, the CDB’s chief economist identified improvements in regional transport and logistics as a major challenge which needed to be addressed head on by governments to increase export success and improve Caribbean business market share. Additionally, he stated, this should be accompanied by “Public sector regulatory and institutional frameworks such as articulated strategies, venture capital and insolvency legislation, contract enforcement, appropriate taxation, and others and increased availability of a range of finance instruments including micro loans, angel investments, venture capital funds and equity markets.”

Also speaking at the launch was Lisa Harding Acting Head of CDB’s Private Sector Division. According to Harding, “The Caribbean Development Bank remains fully committed to supporting the Caribbean’s private sector transformation.  We will continue to prioritise initiatives that promote economic diversification, innovation, climate resilience, and inclusive growth.” The Bank has championed gender based MSME focused interventions such as the SheTrades Caribbean Hub, lines of credits, modalities for providing equity financing and collateral registries.  Ms Harding also encouraged the authors of the study to continue to address critical research gaps surrounding the regional private sector, to support much needed policy reforms.

Are We There Yet? The Path Towards Sustainable Private Sector Development in the Caribbean is a landmark publication presented by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest. The book leverages important firm-level data generated from the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility, to which CDB is a partner. It offers a roadmap for sustainable business growth in the region. The work highlights opportunities in green financing, technology, and innovation to foster sustainable economic ecosystems across the Caribbean. Key findings pointed to the need for, the region’s private sector to increase productivity for sustained growth; encouraging greater investment in climate reforms to improve conditions for private sector growth; enhancing human capital through capacity building to meet market demands; fostering innovation by boosting firms' innovation capacity to enable competitive growth; and expanding access to financing ensure business expansion and resilience.