Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for Central America and the Dominican Republic have ended a two-day meeting amidst reports that the economies of those countries are recovering “slightly faster” than that of other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
The latest IDB activities report titled “Creating Opportunities and Building Resilience: Priorities for Sustainable Recovery,” said the improved economic situation is driven by a rebound in tourism, remittances, and agricultural exports.
However, it noted that higher food prices are exacerbating food insecurity and imperiling progress toward eliminating poverty.
Prime Minister John Briceño in his address to the 36th annual meeting, said he was pleased that the newly elected IDB President, Ilan Goldfajn, had travelled to Belmopan to present his vision of having an “IDB that’s more agile, that’s more nimble that can be able to address the issues that are confronting us, the social issues such as poverty, climate change and infrastructure development. “These three themes are very important to Belize, we have an issue with poverty where when we get into government, poverty is over 52 percent. That is going down. We have to address the issue of crime in Belize and working with the gangs and see how we can get them away from that kind of life to a more productive life.
“That is why we are asked to continue to invest heavily in education. Climate change; well, we all know about it, we live climate change. Every day we have hurricanes, we have droughts, we have too much rains, we have flooding and these are issues that we have to be able to address every single day and see how we can now be able to have more climate resiliency, be it in infrastructure, be it in agriculture, be it in tourism.”
Briceño said it is important to be able to address these issues head on.
Goldfajn, in outlining his vision for expanding the Bank’s contribution to these countries’ development emphasized that in a context of more frequent and more severe crises, Central America and the Dominican Republic should prioritize policies that foster resilience, with people’s welfare as their core focus.
“At the IDB Group, we will channel our assistance toward effectively erasing the obstacles to sustainable and inclusive growth,” said Goldfajn, adding “we will strive to advance social development, intensifying our efforts to reduce poverty and food insecurity.
“We will also help countries combat climate change, invest in sustainable infrastructure, and enhance their natural disaster risk management systems. Partnering with the private sector is also a key component of our strategy for mobilizing resources and fostering development in the region.”
The two-day meeting took place ahead of the IDB annual meeting scheduled to be held in Panama March 16–19.
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