antiguaobserver.com
Antigua and Barbuda is projected to remain the second fastest growing economy in the Latin American and Caribbean region, according to the Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Only oil-rich Guyana is growing at a faster rate than the twin island nation which is still on track for GDP growth of 9.5 percent this year, before seeing a slight dip to 8.5 percent next year.
On Tuesday, ECLAC issued its updated financial report entitled ‘Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2023: Financing a sustainable transition: investment for growth and climate change action’.
The UN regional economic body predicts most regional economies will retain low levels of growth for 2023 and 2024, “affected by a negative global and very complex regional economic outlook”.
The report says the Caribbean region, excluding Guyana, will experience growth of 4.2 percent in 2023, compared with 6.3 percent in 2022.
It stated several factors for the relative slowdown in economic growth for the region, including falling revenues, growing public debt, a faltering labour market and struggling climate financing.
“Weakening global economic activity, declining international trade volumes, high inflation, and volatility on financial and commodity markets have increasingly undermined the economic prospects of developing regions and made it harder to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” the report stated.
It also indicated that an economic outlook based on the future of the Caribbean’s citizenship by investment programmes remains uncertain.
“It is hard to predict what will happen to the citizenship by investment programmes of the countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, particularly Saint Kitts and Nevis; and they could either boost or decelerate the trend of total revenue given their large size.
“If total revenue was to fall further, total expenditure could be expected to adjust to meet the fiscal performance targets set in the year’s budgets,” the report said.
On climate financing, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, argued that if investments in climate change adaptation and mitigation are not made into in-need countries, this could have further implications on the slowdown in economic growth.
“Offsetting the economic losses caused by climate change would require an unprecedented and sustained investment push,” the report added.
