Three CARICOM nations prepare to join Development Bank of Latin America and Caribbean

The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina y El Caribe), colloquially known as CAF or Series “C” members, is now open to the admission of three Caribbean nations to its ranks.

The Caribbean nations in question are Dominica, Grenada and The Bahamas, which are seeking to become members of the bank, which comes with certain benefits and provisions.

An official statement released by CAF clarified that the bank’s board of directors conversed recently and came to the conclusion that they will allocate shares to allow these three nations to become members of the bank.

Sergio Díaz-Granados, who is the Executive President of CAF, stated the following, “Our positioning in the Caribbean will give a new dimension to an organisation that was created by six Andean countries – Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela -, which now fifty-six years later, has 21 shareholder countries and is one of the main sources of multilateral financing in the region.”

“This expansion of CAF in the Caribbean will lead us to become the development bank with the widest coverage in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

CAF established its regional office in Trinidad and Tobago 18 months ago, which has been seen as a significant step in expanding the bank’s footprint in the Caribbean. This also makes it a lot easier for the bank to pursue its goal of providing development assistance to the Caribbean and consolidate its presence in projects and initiatives related to sustainable tourism, the modernisation of infrastructure, digital transformation, climate action, water, energy, and food security.

CAF has also included the Caribbean in its logo and trademark, which has led to the emergence of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, as a fresh entity. This was seen as a clear sign of intent from the organisation and delineated its goals regarding the Caribbean region on the whole.

CAF issued the following statement, “CAF has an ambitious agenda to promote regional integration as well as the sustainable and inclusive development of the region. CAF is fully committed to providing development assistance to address the unique needs of Caribbean islands and small states, which are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change. Within the framework of the Bridgetown Initiative, CAF has already committed US$15 million in support of the Blue-Green Bank initiative led by Barbados.”

It must also be noted that the Bridgetown initiative has taken up the responsibility of pushing for a complete overhaul of the current financial mechanisms that have been put in place, largely influenced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The initiative aims to speak on behalf of climate-vulnerable nations located along the equator. It seeks to facilitate private financing in these nations, which will help them improve resilience and allow for climate transitions, as is necessary, given the state of the climate crisis.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has been accredited with unveiling this concept in Glasgow during COP26, which culminated in a more serious effort with the help and expertise of academicians and accomplished members of civil society, who came together to discuss this very issue at Bridgetown in July 2022.