EDITORIAL: CDF’s restructuring vitally needed

Word is that Barbados is well on its way to being fully financially compliant, in terms of the dues it owes to the CARICOM Development Fund.

This was the information coming out of the 31st Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, which took place recently in Barbados. Chief Executive Officer of the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF), Rodinald Soomer, is quoted as stating that it is expected that by April, Barbados will be fully paid up, though there are other countries that still have payments outstanding.

It was in July last year that Government indicated that the country would be seeking to catch up on its outstanding financial obligations to the CDF, in an effort to help replenish the Fund. Soomer, in an interview with the press then, noted that the CDF’s Board of Directors was considering a proposal put by Mottley, to embrace the concept of having growth and resilience bonds. More specifically, the Board had been in talks with the current administration with regard to “an instrument” the CDF had been asked to consider, that would have allowed Barbados to fulfil at least 50 per cent of its outstanding financial contributions, which would have placed the country back in good standing with the Fund by the end of the second cycle, due in February 2020. The full amount of contributions owed were however not disclosed, though back in 2017, under the previous administration, it reportedly stood at around $14 million.

This week, Soomer meanwhile noted that the Heads of Government pledged their continued support to the CDF at the Inter-Sessional Meeting. To take things a bit further, CARICOM Chair, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, announced at the conclusion of the Meeting for Heads of Government, that the leaders took a decision to restructure the CARICOM Development Fund, to enable it to raise additional monies from individuals, companies, institutions, regional countries and extra-regional countries. She even noted her desire to see a new funding model for the Fund, suggesting that the ability of the Fund to be maintained at a certain level is at risk.

“Member states have committed to capitalising this Fund, but this will never be enough to do what needs to be done, particularly with all of the challenges that the region faces at this point in time… To that extent, therefore, we feel strongly that we need to revisit the structure of the CARICOM Development Fund,” she said.

It has been acknowledged that the Fund cannot be sustained purely from the contributions of the more developed countries and as pointed out, some resolve on the best way to ensure the Fund is capable of assisting disadvantaged countries must be found. It can also be agreed that a way should be found to use the over US$50 billion in savings in the region, to help in the actual development of the region and its people.

That said, it is a plus that Barbados has found a way to pay up its dues to assist in replenishing the Fund and to allow it to thrive.