he following is an edited version of a presentation by Dr Wayne Robinson, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Jamaica to the inaugural Macroeconometric Caribbean Conference organised by the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the Centre for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Indiana University, held in Nassau, The Bahamas, February 9-10, 2023]

THE COVID-19 pandemic inflicted significant economic losses for Caribbean regional economies, particularly those more heavily dependent on tourism, where the economic contraction was upward of 14.0 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in some cases — this figure not capturing the full human cost. As regional economies began to emerge from the pandemic, the shock waves from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continue to threaten the recovery. The region’s vulnerabilities have been further exposed by yet a third exogenous shock: sharp policy rate increases in advanced and other emerging market economies (EMDEs), in attempts to contain the higher-than-normal inflationary pressures, which have resulted in significantly tighter global financial conditions.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/shocks-and-structural-deficiencies-challenges-facing-caribbean-economies/