In the past few weeks you've been hearing a whole lot in the news about so called de-risking - where regional banks are ending their correspondent relationships with indigenous banks in the Caribbean. It's a legitimate crisis with far reaching implications for the business and banking sectors and yesterday at the CDB Annual Press Conference in Barbados, the Bank's senior brass said it will seriously affect economic growth:...
Dr. Justin Ram - Director of Economics, CDB
"It's going to be a well-stifle uneconomic activity. Today, imagine private sectors trying to operate within the Caribbean and they can't actually get paid, or they can't actually get their funds out of the region? That's going to be a well hindrance to economic growth eventually. Either something that I believe we need to work on right now - we need to have a solution. We cannot wait."
Dr. William Warren Smith - President, CDB
"This is a major threat hanging over our heads. Even at a time when we are saying that the solution for our countries as far as economic development is concerned is deeper integration and penetration into international markets. How do you do that if you can't move money back and forth from our countries to trading partners and vice versa?"
Jules Vasquez
"Has anyone figured out who's the guy to talk to? I know Latin American leaders spoke to Obama himself at a summit. But has anyone figured out okay he is the guy we need to talk to?"
Dr. William Warren Smith - President, CDB
"I think the short answer is that we are still in the early stages of trying to make a determination as to how to wrap our heads around this problem. Who are our natural allies? Who are the movers and shakers who can help us to resolve it. Belize has played a very pivotal role in not only bringing this problem to the attention of the region, but also to the attention of the authorities outside of the region."
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