As The UWI continues its year-long celebration of 70 years of service to the region , The UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) presents the lecture "Unleashing Growth and Strengthening Resilience in the Caribbean" . The lecture will be held in the Conference Room of the Finance Administrative Centre, Pointe Seraphine , on Wednesday 25th April at 7:00 p.m. Delivering the lecture will be Mr Leo Bonato, IMF Mission Chief to Saint Lucia.
Lecture Synopsis:
"Caribbean economies - endowed with some of the greatest beauty on this planet - sustained several decades of strong growth following their Independence in the 1960's and 1970's. This success was underpinned by the development of strong democratic traditions, sound institutions, and an active debate of public policies reflecting the aspirations of the Caribbean people.
More recently, however, many of the countries in the region have fallen into a trap of low growth and high debt. In addition to the costs of natural disasters, which have contributed to low growth, the region has also endured deep macroeconomic, financial, and structural challenges. A large public debt overhang, combined with high energy costs, violent crime, constrained access to credit, a high cost of doing business, and brain drain - to name just a few - have undermined growth prospects. “( Leo Bonato )
Join us as Mr Bonato discusses these worrisome issues as well as how the region can respond to the challenges presented and return to sustained growth.
We look forward to hosting you and to a lively post-lecture discussion of the critical issues raised.
For more information please contact the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia campus at 758-452-3865(6) or e-mail: st.lucia@open.uwi.edu .
