December 3rd, 2014 -- THE Caribbean economy has experienced increased growth in the last year, moving from 1.4 per cent in 2013 to 1.8 per cent in 2014, with even more positive prospects for 2015, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),
On 2 December 2014, ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena presented the flagship report: “Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2014”. The launch of the report was hosted at the Commission’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile, and was broadcast online and via videoconference.
Following the launch, the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, delivered a presentation on the Caribbean perspective. The perspective highlighted some of the challenges being experienced in the subregion, which contribute to the somewhat slow economic growth.
According to ECLAC, unemployment has eased but remains a major issue. The average rate remains high at 13 per cent, and is even higher among youths including high school and university graduates. The post global economic crisis period has also resulted in a high number of discouraged workers in many countries.
The Caribbean perspective showed that monetary conditions continue to be marked by high levels of excess liquidity in the banking system, which reflects imperfections and high administrative costs in the banking system, which could have created opportunities through the allocation of the funds to productive projects.
According to ECLAC, there is hope, as growth is expected to increase by 2.3 per cent during the course of 2015, driven by continued recovery in the tourism, construction and public infrastructure projects.
It was recognized that there is need for skills retooling, the provision of an exit strategy from short-term employment programmes through the acquisition of sustainable skills, nurturing entrepreneurship for self-employment, on-line labour market information and matching system, as well as focus on innovation and creativity training to grow high quality jobs.
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Trinidad & Tobago News