THE latest Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) annual report showed that the bank disbursed US$306 million to borrowing member countries (BMCs) in 2019, but the regional financial institution has been urged to double that disbursement if it intends to reach its poverty reduction target.
Poverty rates in the Caribbean are already high – largely clustered between 20 and 40 per cent.
Newly elected president of the CDB Dr Gene Leon believes the prevalence of poverty in the region will no doubt worsen as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has pushed the region further away from achieving the United Nation’s sutainable development goal (SDG) of slashing regional poverty in half by 2030.
“Our preliminary estimates suggest that, to reach our goal of halving poverty by 2030, would require more than a doubling of average CDB lending,” said Leon.
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