During the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) forty second annual meeting held in Grand Cayman from May 23-24, 2012, CDB, The World Bank (WB) and Inter-American Bank (IDB) formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly support the work of the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF). CGF aims to provide a platform for dialogue around the growth […]
This document presents a guide to perform a Private Sector Assessment Report (PSAR), designed specifically for the beneficiary countries of the Compete Caribbean program: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
Guide for Private Sector Assessment Report (PSAR) in the Caribbean Countries Read More »
This week the Compete Caribbean Program presented opportunities for Bahamanian companies to receive grants to help grow their businesses. Presentations were made to companies on Tuesday at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort and today at the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce.
Grant Funding Opportunities for Bahamian Companies Read More »
Antigua and Barbuda demonstrates a number of strengths in relation to the potential for growth in the private sector; however, there are also a number of issues which could threaten to derail any future growth in the private sector. Although the overdependence of the Antigua and Barbuda economy on tourism can be considered a weakness
Donor Matrix – Antigua and Barbuda (2013, Updated 2015) Read More »
The present study investigates the role that formal and informal savings and credit mechanisms play in the financial lives of microentrepreneurs in the Caribbean, partly as an attempt to explain the relatively low outreach of microcredit in the region to date. Informal financing mechanisms studied include friends and family loans, moneylenders (unregulated “loan sharks”), store
Building Up Business: Microenterprise Demand for Credit in the Caribbean Read More »
The main purpose of this study is to present the conceptual basis that supports science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It starts by clarifying STI relationship, both conceptual and empirical, to economic growth and it explains how market and coordination failures hinder innovation. Then, it discusses a variety
The buildup of debt in Jamaica has been concurrent with the country’s slow economic growth, and the issues are intertwined. High debt slows economic growth, and slow economic growth makes the process of reducing the debt burden more difficult. Jamaica committed itself to a strict fiscal consolidation program to reduce its debt burden. The fiscal
Debt, Fiscal Adjustment and Economic Growth in Jamaica Read More »
Developing countries face the enormous challenge of closing the productivity gap with rich countries. According to previous studies, this is especially relevant for firms in the services sector, which, albeit its growing importance in the economy, still has a large productivity gap with other sectors. Given that ICT investment can help close this gap by
The Impact of R&D and ICT Investment on Innovation and Productivity in Chilean Firms Read More »
This paper is meant to help national and regional policymakers navigate the complex topic of business climate reform in the Caribbean. It combines the findings of four relatively independent data collection efforts to uncover which aspects of the current business climate most affect the private sector in that region. The analysis from the four sources indicates
Toward a Business Climate Reform Agenda in the Caribbean Read More »
A randomised control trial with 945 entrepreneurs in Jamaica shows positive short-term impacts of soft-skills training on business outcomes. The effects are concentrated among men and disappear twelve months after the training. We argue that the main channel is increased adoption of recommended business practices, exclusively observed in the short run. We see persistent effects
The Impact of Soft Skills Training for Entrepreneurs in Jamaica Read More »
