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A weak, worn-out Caribbean will not serve its people in 2020

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By Sir Ronald Sanders

As 2019 ends and the new year dawns, the world faces a troubling period of uncertainty. This precariousness will affect international and regional organizations as some powerful governments pursue a policy of de-linking from the established international system, encouraging fragmentation of regional groups and imposing their own agenda through various methods of coercion.

That process has started – most glaringly in the World Trade Organization (WTO), where the dispute settlement machinery has been forced into collapse by the retirement of two of the remaining three members of the Appellate Body on Dec. 10, and a veto by the United States of any new appointments.  Now, states will have to revert to settling disputes through bilateral negotiation. No fair and equitable settlement can possibly emerge from a negotiation between a large power and a small powerless state. That’s why no big country – including India – has railed against it. Absent strict international rules, national power predominates.

Small countries will be especially endangered if this trend intensifies. The rules-based international system protects them from suffocation by larger powers in a range of areas, including terms of trade; access to financing; defense and security; and the right to participate effectively in regional and international decision-making. That is why, throughout the international system, small states should form strong alliances and make common cause to protect and preserve the rules that govern international relations in all its aspects.

The big and powerful nations, whose governments are intent on establishing their own primacy by encouraging the breaking up of regional groups, will also suffer adverse consequences in the longer term. For, even the rich and powerful will suffer if the markets and states around them are poor, weak and unstable. But, few governments show concern for the longer term; instead, they are intent on satisfying their own immediate political interests and on the primacy they can procure for their own countries.

BREXIT – the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) from the now 28-nation European Union (EU) will weaken the EU as a balancing economic and trade force against the United States of America (US), China and Russia.

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The present governments of all three of these large powers have separate but common interests in dismantling the EU monolith and dealing, instead, with 28 smaller states. None of the 28, by themselves (not even Germany and France) has the capacity to bargain effectively with China and the US. And, in military terms, not even the largest of the EU countries alone can face-up to Russia.

It should be noted that the EU itself was not averse to using the combined power of its 28 states to impose its will on the weak and vulnerable, including Caribbean states. The two-decade long war that it has waged on small countries over tax and financial matters, using trade and aid as measures to coerce them to comply with arbitrary and imposed regimes, confirmed its own readiness to effectuate its will through force. The EU is using that power by itself and through the influence that its hawkish member states exert in the 36-member Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has set-up itself as the world’s standard-setting body on tax and financial services.

The actions of both the EU and the OECD have disrupted the provision of financial services in small countries, including the Caribbean, causing the loss of employment and revenues.

Regrettably, none of this shows any sign of easing as the world enters 2020. Entrenched religious prejudice, nurtured sentiments of racial superiority, ingrained craving for economic advantage and power, including claims for territorial land and sea by governments of states that adjoin others – all combine to hinder human progress that should reside in fairness and impartiality; peace and genuine respect for people; and the provision of conditions that allow for the welfare and protection of others.

Of course, these arguments are relevant to regional situations as well. Unity and solidarity with each other, in pursuit of their common good, are often sacrificed by regional countries for immediate national gain. Alliances are formed with an external country or countries that satisfy short-term benefits but weaken regional bargaining capacity. In the Caribbean, this particular situation is one that regional governments should strive to overcome in order to achieve a more perfect union, which remains the only viable means to achieve their national wellbeing.

There are many obvious ways in which Caribbean governments could work toward a more cohesive and stronger region. Trade is a blatant area: in 2018, the 14 independent nations of CARICOM suffered a trade deficit with the US of US$9 billion; the CARIFORUM countries, that include CARICOM and the Dominican Republic, had a trade deficit with the EU of US$3.5 billion. More than US$5 billion was spent on food importation alone.

If the CARICOM countries are to do better in 2020 and beyond, a resolute effort has to be made to address, on a regional basis, the ancient and persistent problem of establishing air and sea transportation; strengthening each other’s economy through trade; bargaining collectively with the rest of the world, including on financial services. They also must stop signing-up individually to demands by outside countries and begin to negotiate collectively. Nationalist adventures with third countries must also end.

The Caribbean exists within a world where internationalism is being disregarded and raw power is being exercised to rule.  The region cannot disentangle itself from that world, but it must be keenly aware that the juggernaut of the powerful will not be deterred by a disunited, disorganized and debilitated Caribbean.

In 2020 and in the years beyond, it is in the interest of every nation in the Caribbean to work for greater economic equity, wider political participation, and broader cooperation to bridge differences and build trust amongst themselves.

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In Other News

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]. 

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]