CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
BARBADOS
Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley
has renewed her call for an agreement
on a multi-million vulnerability
index to replace the historic per capita
income criteria used to provide assistance
to developing countries.
Participating in the recent virtual
20th Session of the High-Level Committee
on South-North Corporation
at the United Nations headquarters
in New York, Mottley
said Barbados’ clarification
as a middleincome
country had
meant that for more
than a decade, the
country had limited access in concessional
development funding.
She told the conference that a multidimensional
vulnerability index will
allow for the inclusion of more than
just income-based criteria to access
eligibility for concessionary finance.
“We have been advocating over the
course of the last few years that this
needs to change and we need more
inclusive mechanisms that will allow
our countries to truly benefit from the
concessional finds that are available,”
she said.
Mottley said the per capita income
measurement was unfairly applied in
many instances to small island developing
states, which were on the front
line of different levels of vulnerabilities,
namely financial, social and environment.
CARIBBEAN
Caribbean member countries of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
could benefit from as much as US$2.4
billion in additional liquidity support,
under the entity’s newly proposed
US$650 billion Special Drawing Rights
(SDR) allocation.
The overall provision
is intended to aid
in the global recovery
from the economic
fallout resulting from
the COVID-19 pandemic, by supplementing
the reserve assets of the IMF’s
190-member countries.
During a webinar entitled “Reimaging
Caribbean Economies in the Wake
of the COVID-19 pandemic,” acting
director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere
Department, Nigel Chalk said
the proposal is soon to be discussed by
the fund’s board.
Once approved, he said, it will be
relayed to the board of governors for
ratification.
Chalk said the event formed part of
the itinerary for the Caribbean Development
Bank’s 51st annual meeting
from June 15 to July 1.
He explained that the allocations
under the proposed SDR provision
Caribbean L 4 ife, JULY 2-8, 2021
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Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley. Photo by George Alleyne
would be distributed according to each
IMF member country ‘s quota share,
noting that in the Caribbean’s case,
this would equate to approximately
US$2.4 billion.
GRENADA
The Grenada government said it
will allow private promoters to host
cultural events leading up to the carnival
celebrations in
August, even as it
announced that statefunded
institutions
will not be allowed to
do so because of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell
said that until the island reaches herd
community, the authorities will be
careful about granting permission for
mass social events.
Dr. Mitchell said there can be cultural
activities, some of which takes
place during carnival.
He told reporters if promoters are
moving ahead and promoting cultural
activities, and people are vaccinated as
a condition to participate in the cultural
activities, then, and there “I think
the Covid committee is seriously looking
at that and there are other social
activities that can be permitted with
the condition of vaccination.”
Carnival activities end on the second
Monday in August, and Mitchell
said he would categorize the policy as
“an allowance of cultural activities.”
Grenada has recorded over 160
cases of the virus since the first case
was recorded in March last year.
GUYANA
Guyana’s main transgender group
has welcomed plans by the government
to rescind a law against crossdressing,
saying it has been the source
of police and state harassment.
Lawmakers in the
country in the coming
weeks will debate
a bill in parliament
to discard the British
colonial–era portion of an act allowing
for fines and jail time for mostly males
who dress as females.
The bill was recently laid in parliament
during a brief sitting.
A local high court had in 2013 ruled
that the police were correct to arrest
and charge offenders if they had crossdressed
“for improper purpose, ” in
reference to a scenario in which a man
dressed as a woman and convinced
another man in a darkened club or
bar that he was a woman. Then chief
justice said the situation can lead to
trouble.
Angered by the ruling, the Guyana
Transgender Association three years
ago took the case to the Trinidadbased
Caribbean Court of Justice,
which ordered that the law be rescinded
because it was unconstitutional.
Guyana’s Attorney General Anil,
Nandlall said the government was
moving to comply with the ruling.
ST. VINCENT
The Public Service Union (PSU) is
Continued on Page 22
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
B’dos renews calls for vulnerability index
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