The Caribbean Region Quarterly Bulletin: Volume 2: Issue 4: October 2013

Date
Oct 2013
The Caribbean Region Quarterly Bulletin discusses recent economic developments and analyzes the topic of energy for the 6 IDB-member Caribbean countries, as well as the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The countries are: The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. This issue highlights fiscal developments for 2013, which may outperform expectations in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. In contrast, high fiscal deficits have forced the governments of The Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica to adopt further expenditure cuts and new tax regimes. In Suriname, authorities remain committed to reducing the fiscal deficit, despite falling gold prices. This issue also assesses debt sustainability under different gold prices in Suriname. It also analyzes the existing energy structure in each of the Caribbean countries and discusses possible alternatives to resolve the high cost of energy and import dependency for the region as a whole.