Debt Sustainability and Financing for Development in the Caribbean (St Lucia)

Projections are that, on its present course, by 2020, debt will remain unsustainable in 11 Caribbean small states, and there will be no change in 2030 when the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development will have run its course. In the current policy debate, there is the push to privatisation and especially through PPPs. There are alternatives. Some alternatives include external creditors, agreeing to write-off or reduce their loans; re-opening concessional financing from international financial institutions; and swapping debt for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

See the workshop outcome statement: Castries Statement on Debt Sustainability and Financing for Development

The workshop takes place prior to the Caribbean Sub-regional advisory committee (SUBRAC) meeting. The discussions and debates are within the framework of the 2018 -2022 Programme of Action (PoA) and PSI’s on-going work on Financing for Development.

Affiliates will examine some case studies, and provide information on the experiences in some countries and learn more about the on-going work of our potential coalition partners. The objective is to develop joint action plans.

Revised draft programme

Resources/References

Videos

• Diane Quarless, Director ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, Port of Spain 
• Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA Network and Rev. Osbert James, Jubilee Caribbean at the 2018 FFD Forum
• Interview with Don Marshall, Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies at University of the West Indies, Cave Hill: Crisis Narratives and Debt in the Caribbean
• Don Marshall's presentation

Articles

• Tackling heavy Caribbean debt is key to future disaster protection, leaders say (Reuters) 
• Caribbean churches call for debt relief in response to disasters (Jubilee debt campaign) 
• Call for debt cancellation for hurricane hit islands (Jubilee debt campaign) 

Reports, Research

• Caribbean development report:  A perusal of public debt in the Caribbean and its impact on economic growth, Studies and Perspectives, ECLAC sub-regional office for the Caribbean, 2017
• Crisis Narratives, Debt and Development Adjustment: Contemplating Caribbean Small Island States’ Futures, Don D. Marshall, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), The University of the West Indies: Cave Hill
• Financing for Development and the SDGs: An analysis of financial flows, systemic issues and interlinkages, Eurodad, April 2018
• Evolution of Caribbean Debt, Focus newsletter of ECLAC, sub-regional headquarters for the Caribbean, October-December 2013
• Global Sovereign Debt map and tables
• ECLAC’s Proposals for Debt Climate Change Swaps, ECLAC, November 2017