Caribbean Trade Law and Development

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  • Barbados’ trade policies up for WTO review next week

    Barbados’ trade policies up for WTO review next week

    Alicia Nicholls

    On October 25 and 27, 2022 Barbados will undergo its fourth trade policy review at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Trade Policy Reviews are part of the WTO’s trade policy review mechanism whereby all WTO members’ trade policies and practices are periodically reviewed. A country’s share in world trade is the determining factor for the frequency of its reviews. Barbados’ three previous trade policy reviews were in 2002, 2008 and 2014. These reviews are a critical part of the WTO’s transparency function.

    WTO members, meeting as the Trade Policy Review Body on October 25 and 27, will review two documents: the WTO Secretariat’s Report and the report from the Government of Barbados. During the meeting, Members will have the opportunity to raise questions and seek clarity from the Barbados delegation on various issues relating to the country’s trade policies and practices. The rules of procedure for the TPRB can be accessed here.

    The TPR reports are made publicly available and are a rich source of information for trade analysts and potential investors of a country’s trade policies and its general trading and macroeconomic environment. The TPRB chairperson’s concluding remarks are released shortly after. The minutes of the meeting, as well as members questions, are also released about six weeks after the conclusion of the review.

    With regard to other CARICOM Member States up for review this year, Guyana had its most recent trade policy review in March and the Dominican Republic’s latest will be in December.

    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc, LL.B. is an international trade specialist and founder of the Caribbean Trade Law and Development blog http://www.caribbeantradelaw.com.

  • Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – October 9-14, 2022

    Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest – October 9-14, 2022

    Welcome to our Caribbean Trade and Development News Digest covering the week of October 9-14, 2022! We are pleased to bring you the major trade and development news headlines and analysis from across the Caribbean Region and the world from the past week. We do hope you enjoy this week’s edition!

    THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

    The Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank took place this past week (October 10-16, 2022) with both Washington-based entities warning that the world economy could be in recession in 2023. Among the many things highlighted in UNCTAD’s recently released Trade and Development Report 2022 is that “with 60% of low-income countries and 30% of emerging market economies in or near debt distress, the possibility of a global debt crisis is high”. Barbados took the opportunity to present the Bridgetown Initiative on the reform of the global financial architecture which can be accessed here.

    What are we watching this week? The situation in Haiti has taken a turn for the worse. CARICOM countries participated in an important United Nations (UN) Security Council Meeting to address the situation in sister CARICOM member State Haiti where it is estimated by that organisation that 4.7 million Haitians face acute hunger. This Blog extends its heartfelt support for the people of Haiti. This week the FATF’s October Plenary takes place and we will also be watching this.

    What have I been up to these past few weeks? It’s been a while so I have lots to share! I was pleased to have moderated a session in September at the inaugural Africa-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) and also a session with Canadian fintech company Paystone’s CEO Tarique Al-Ansari at the inaugural Fintech Islands Conference held in Barbados, October 5-7, 2022. My latest piece for IFC Review on Barbados’ Regulatory Resilience in the Face of COVID-19 was recently published. Feel free to also check out my latest piece on what the volatility of the UK pound might mean for Caribbean tourism and trade here.

    REGIONAL NEWS

    Guyana World Trade Center aims to build bridges between local small businesses, foreign partners

    Stabroek: Chairman of Demerara Distillers Ltd., Komal Samaroo, says that “connecting Guyanese businesses with potential partners around the world” and accessing relevant information to support market access for local products ought to be the highest priority for business owners here. Read more

    Guyana signs air agreement with China

    CWN Weekly: The Government of Guyana has signed an air service agreement with the People’s Republic of China. Read more

    Guyana opens tender for its first oil refinery

    Economic Times: Guyana has called for proposals to design, finance and build its first oil refinery. Read more

    Belize’s SIB reports 13.5% GDP growth, tripling of rum production

    Amandala: The Statistical Institute of Belize reported that for the second quarter of 2022, the economy grew by 13.5%, due to increases in beverage production, fruit deliveries, and electricity generation. Read more

    Suriname eyeing economic citizenship

    Caribbean Life: Suriname, considered as one or the more developed nations in CARICOM, dropped a political bombshell in the past week, indicating that it is considering joining its neighbors in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in running a passport for money and citizenship scheme. Read more

    Gopee-Scoon: Businesses booming in Trinidad and Tobago

    Newsday: Exports are at record levels, the country’s figures are great, and exciting new businesses abound in TT, effused Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, in her budget contribution on Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Read more

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    WTO anticipates sharp slowdown in world trade growth in 2023

    UN: Trade growth is expected to lose momentum in the second half of this year and remain subdued in 2023, as the global economy sustains multiple shocks, such as ripple effects from the war in Ukraine, the latest forecast from the World Trade Organization (WTO) has revealed. Read more

    Trade and Sustainability Discussions at WTO Approaching Next Milestone

    IISD: On October 4 and 5, the 74 members currently co-sponsoring the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) met to further their work and discuss preparations for a high-level stocktaking event in December. Read more

    How Countries Should Respond to the Strong Dollar

    IMFBlog: Policy responses to currency depreciation pressures should focus on the drivers of the exchange-rate moves and signs of market disruptions. Read more

    Policymakers Need Steady Hand as Storm Clouds Gather Over Global Economy

    IMFBlog: One-third of the world economy will likely contract this year or next amid shrinking real incomes and rising prices. Read more

    UK government unveils bill for digitisation of trade documents through blockchain

    Financial Express: According to Cointelegraph, MP Michelle Donelan and UK Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport stated that the Electronic Trade Documents Bill had been introduced to the Parliament. Read more

    UK Government asked to reconsider on trade agreements

    UK Parliament: The Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has asked the new government to re-consider a “disappointing” response to its report on the impact of the Australian free trade agreement (FTA) on the UK food and agriculture sector. Read more

    GOP Members Call for U.S.-UK Free Trade Agreement in Letter to Newly Appointed UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch

    US House: Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Republican Leader of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), joined by all Ways & Means Republicans, today sent a letter to UK Secretary for International Trade Kemi Badenoch conveying this message. Read more

    No consensus yet on China joining regional trade pact – Singapore PM

    Reuters: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday there is no consensus yet for China to join a trans-Pacific trade pact, although Singapore believed it would be possible for Beijing to meet the trade bloc’s conditions. Read more

    Taiwan, U.S. hope to come up with ‘early harvest’ list on trade deal by year-end

    FocusTaiwan: Taiwan hopes to reach consensus with the United States to come up with an “early harvest list” on a bilateral trade deal before the end of this year, the nation’s deputy trade negotiator told lawmakers on Monday. Read more

    STRAIGHT FROM THE WTO

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  • Barbados’ regulatory resilience in the face of COVID-19

    Barbados’ regulatory resilience in the face of COVID-19

    In my latest piece for IFC Review I write about how financial regulators in Barbados adapted to the Covid-19 challenge. It is based on a book chapter I have forthcoming. Read the article here!

  • Fintech Islands: Catalysing the Caribbean Fintech Industry

    Fintech Islands: Catalysing the Caribbean Fintech Industry

    Alicia Nicholls

    A few months ago, I authored an article for IFC Review positing that Barbados possessed many of the main ingredients necessary to become a global fintech hub of the future as part of its post-COVID-19 economic diversification strategy. Since I penned that article, the need for Caribbean small island developing States to diversify their economies has never been greater. Happily, an upcoming private sector-led event called Fintech Islands is taking a critical step towards strategically positioning Barbados, and the Caribbean by extension, as a key player in the burgeoning global fintech space.


    To appreciate the importance of this event, context is key. After three long years, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be approaching its tail-end. However, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) outlined in its July 2022 World Economic Outlook Update, several shocks have hit an already pandemic-weakened global economy and made the outlook for the rest of 2022 “gloomy and more uncertain”. Moreover, tourism, the lifeblood of most Caribbean economies, faces the headwinds of a recessionary UK economy battling high inflation and a depreciating pound. These developments could adversely impact both winter arrivals and expenditure from one of the region’s major tourism source markets.


    Building resilience to help combat these headwinds requires diversification into higher value-added sectors offering opportunities for earning greater foreign exchange, generating meaningful and high-quality jobs and improving overall welfare for Caribbean citizens. Barbados’ quest to position itself as a global fintech hub forms part of such a strategy.
    Governments cannot by themselves create a fintech hub. What all of the world’s most successful fintech hubs boast is an ecosystem encompassing policy makers, regulatory authorities, firms, entrepreneurs and financial service providers. In this vein, three enterprising diaspora-based Barbadians – Allison Hunte, Peter Stoute-King and Curt Persaud – formulated the vision of hosting a world-class fintech event in the Caribbean drawing influential speakers and attendees from across the world. Their team was rounded out by senior advisors William ‘Billy’ Griffith and Andrew Morris. They further partnered with an A-list of partners to put together what promises to be a truly revolutionary event in the Caribbean fintech space to be held on October 5-7, 2022.


    Fintech Islands will be the first high calibre global fintech event to be held in Barbados. The mélange of over 100 distinguished speakers provides fertile ground for the world’s most prescient fintech minds to exchange their ideas, experiences and expertise and proffer solutions on how fintech could address some of the development challenges of our times – financial exclusion, poverty, climate change, gender inequality and the like.


    Named among Times’ 100 Most Influential people of 2022, Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, will be a special guest and deliver welcome remarks at this inaugural event. While testifying before the United States (US) House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee this September, Prime Minister Mottley had made an impassioned plea about the ways in which the de-risking practices by large US banks were harming small States’ ability to engage in cross-border trade and their investment attraction. She had highlighted, for example, the plight of the unbanked and what the lack of access to banking services has meant for these persons at the micro level. It is increasingly recognized, through global examples like Kenya’s M-Pesa for example, the ways in which fintech could provide solutions to tackle financial exclusion and to promote philanthropy and financing for development.


    To be sure, though Barbados cannot become a fintech hub overnight, the many rich and insightful discussions over the next few days could be catalytic for the Caribbean fintech industry for the following reasons.
    First, as policy makers and regulators will be among the esteemed speakers and attendees, there surely will be the opportunity to learn from other countries and share best practices.


    Second, the event, through its diverse panels, will bring attendees up to speed on all the exciting things happening in the region’s fintech space, promoting fintech innovation and adoption and showcasing the region as an attractive place for fintech start-ups and investment. Indeed, some of the sessions feature fintech entrepreneurs who have decided to base their operations here in the Caribbean and who will be sharing their experiences and reasons for investing in the region.


    Third, the event affords young fintech entrepreneurs, content creators, industry analysts and those with a general interest in the field a space to meet, network and learn from thought leaders in this landscape.


    Fourth, the event will demonstrate that Barbados and the Caribbean can be a choice location for hosting a world-class fintech event. Similar to Money20/20, CoinDesk Consensus, and the Singapore FinTech Festival, a successful Fintech Islands here in Barbados could potentially prove to be a ‘must-attend’ event on the calendars of the fintech landscape’s who’s who in the near future.

    Learn more about Fintech Islands here.


    Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is an international trade consultant and founder of the Caribbean Trade Law Blog: http://www.caribbeantradelaw.com.