World Bank Assesses Caribbean Debt

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

17 March 2010

Staff at the World Bank have been tasked with assessing the debt profile of indebted Caribbean nations to advise on policy approaches to alleviate their individual deficits, World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, announced on March 11.

Zoellick made the announcement during a press conference shortly after a meeting with the heads of the governments of the Caribbean Community, at the start of the 21st Intersessional Meeting in Dominica.

He told reporters that the role of the World Bank was to help governments achieve their priorities and that he welcomed the opportunity presented at Thursday’s meeting to listen and learn. Zoellick said that the meeting focused mainly on alleviating the Community’s crippling debt burden, but also on tax transparency and tax havens, Haiti and climate change.

Zoellick said that the World Bank has already spent USD90bn since the start of the global financial and economic meltdown to help under-developed and poor countries to stem the effects of the crisis, and that it is currently seeking further funds, worth up to USD5bn, to continue to fulfill its mandate.

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