After growing less than one percent In 2017 the Caribbean region is expected to experience 2 percent economic growth this year.
President of the Caribbean Development Bank Dr. Warren Smith delivered the forecast during his address at the CDC’s annual media conference on Wednesday morning.
He said the growth will be influence by an improved global economy which is expected to continue to expand this year. Dr. Smith said all but five of the CDB’s borrowing member countries reported growth in 2017 driven mainly by tourism and increase commodity prices.
The CDB head further noted that disaster risk management and resilience building took prominence in 2017 following the wide spread devastation caused by the category five hurricanes Irma and Maria last September. The storms caused damaged of up to 225% of GDP in Dominica and almost 300% in the British Virgin Islands.
The CDB President said it is becoming increasingly costly to respond to natural disasters in the region noting that the bank has been drawing on its own resources as well as that of its partners to assist affected countries.
