FRIGATE BAY, St Kitts, Sep 04 2015 – The Caribbean Development (CDB) has not taken kindly to criticism levelled against it by Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in Antigua and Barbuda Senator Lennox Weston.
CDB President Dr Warren Smith said Senator Weston “was in a position to know that those allegations were unfounded.”
Dr Smith said the bank did not respond initially “because that is not our style. We deal with those issues privately and behind the scenes.”
“It is not helpful when those kinds of remarks are made when they are not based on the facts and by individuals who have access to the facts,” Dr Smith said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund High Level Conference here.
Last month, Weston said the Barbados-based bank is failing the region. He accused it of short- changing LIAT by not giving the carrier enough funding to successfully re-fleet and right sizing the airline.
Weston said in the 14-country region, many multi-million dollar projects are well underway with very little input from the CDB.
“In my mind, we need to fundamentally look at whether the CDB needs to size up or stop calling themselves the development bank for the region, because CDB cannot fund the fundamental requirement for Caribbean advancement, in terms of regional transport,” the minister of state said.
But Dr Smith said the CDB is not adverse to criticism “and we always feel we need to step up our game.”
“We welcome people pointing out where we can become more effective. What we have a problem with is uninformed an unhelpful remarks from people who should know better.”
Speaking during the opening of the ongoing IMF forum, Dr Smith highlighted a number of areas where the CDB was contributing to growth in the Caribbean.
He said the CDB has been engaged in discussions to strengthen the indigenous banking sector in the OECS countries.
He added that the CDB has been preparing to become the “intermediary of choice” for climate financing to the region.
“We have been seeking accreditation to the Adaptation Fund and to the Green Climate Fund, which will unlock considerable dedicated climate financing. We have already accessed a US$64 million Climate Action Line of Credit from the European Investment Bank, to improve climate resilience in our BMCs. The intention is that resources from the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund will complement existing resources, including the Climate Action Line of Credit,” he said.
One of the bank’s goals is to significantly increase energy security and sustainability, and to enable economic growth by assisting BMCs with the timely provision of adequate, affordable, reliable, and clean energy services to all; establishing the energy sector as a dynamic economic sub-sector; and being a key development financier for the sector, according to the CDB president.
He said the CDB also wanted to help finance geothermal industry in the OECS countries and has recently established a new unit, at CDB, to build public private partnerships (PPPs) capacity across the region.
