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Downward investment trend expected to worsen in 2021 – Support for micro, small and medium sized businesses must be ramped up – CEDA Executive Director
Kaieteur News-The Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), Deodat Maharaj, has stated that the downward trend in investments for 2021 is expected to worsen due to the prolonged state of shutdown across many economies in the Caribbean Region which is linked to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In an article submission titled “Fast-Tracking Caribbean Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience” Maharaj pointed out that like many places across the globe, COVID-19 has brought the challenge of attracting investment in the region. He referenced a projection by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, that foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean declined by about 50% in 2020. He said that it is expected to worsen this year.
Taking this into account, he stressed the need for the region working collectively, stating that “Simply put, as individual states, our populations and markets are too small in this vast global marketplace. Therefore, acting independently or singularly is no longer an option. Working collectively is the only way. Building trade, investment and overall business relationships outside the English-speaking Caribbean is also critical.” He said that the work of CEDA in bringing the CARICOM countries and the Dominican Republic together is a good example which must be supported.
Creating an enabling environment for business to flourish and adopting new approaches to attract foreign direct investment is pertinent to the recovery and resilience from COVID-19 according to Maharaj.
Executive Director of CEDA, Deodat Maharaj
Also paramount to fast-tracking COVID-19 recovery and resilience, the Executive Director said, is supporting enterprises at the local level. “We need to ramp up support to micro, small and medium sized businesses. These businesses are the lifeblood of local economies,” he lamented. He also stressed that these businesses need to be innovative and agile in their approaches and leverage the opportunities provided by digitalization.
Going forward, a package of support is required which includes combining know-how, access to finance and innovation. In this regard, he stated that CEDA, as the lead agency for private sector development in the region is committed to the aforementioned agenda to help create jobs, growth and prosperity for Caribbean people. In the article submission, he highlighted that CEDA provides financial support to firms through its Direct Assistance Grants Scheme and Direct Support Grants Programme with funding from the European Union. The grants aim to assist regional firms in meeting the financial challenges imposed by the pandemic and build their competitiveness and export capacity. CEDA is also providing direct technical assistance to firms.
Maharaj even noted Guyana is among Caribbean countries that are rich in natural resources and have been making efforts to attract direct foreign investments. He noted however that these countries are the amount required to achieve the creation of much-needed jobs and generate inclusive growth.
Additionally, Maharaj noted the importance of accelerating efforts to improve the ease of doing business. He said, “Caribbean countries can and must do better. There is no prize for second place in this increasingly competitive world. We must accelerate efforts to improve the ease of doing business, including the establishment of special purpose units with the exclusive responsibility for breaking down of barriers to doing business and fast-tracking implementation of high priority policies.”
He noted that Mauritius which is a small island was faced with similar challenges like the countries in the Caribbean Region, nonetheless, it has been consistent in improving its ease of doing business ranking. According to CEDA’s Executive Director, in the 2020 World Bank Report, Mauritius was ranked at 13 which is higher than Australia, Canada and Germany, adding that the Caribbean region can certainly learn from the small island.
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