Prime Minister Philip Davis yesterday urged Caribbean leaders to deepen regional cooperation and strengthen homegrown financial institutions, arguing that growing geopolitical uncertainty and a global financial system not designed for small island states have left the region vulnerable and overly dependent on external decision-makers.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Development Bank’s Annual Meeting, Davis said the Caribbean can no longer afford to rely on international systems that fail to account for the realities of climate vulnerability and small economies with limited access to financing.
“The global financial architecture was not designed for us,” Davis said.
“It was designed without our storms, our scale, and our future in mind.
“We have been tenants of this architecture across generations, and the rent keeps rising. The rules keep changing without our consent, and no outside power is coming to fix it for us.”
Davis said the region faces mounting challenges, including the loss of correspondent banking relationships, limited access to capital, and financing formulas that often exclude Caribbean countries from support despite their vulnerability to natural disasters.
“We are told, often at the same time, that we are too small to matter on the one hand, and too prosperous to be helped on the other,” he said.
He warned that Caribbean countries have become too accustomed to enduring crises, rather than transforming the systems that create them.
“We have been resilient for so long that we have begun to mistake survival for progress,” Davis said.
“Surviving the storm is different from changing the conditions that create it.”
Davis also called for greater regional unity and stronger Caribbean-owned financial institutions capable of mobilizing capital for development projects across the region.
Using Africa as a shining example, Davis pointed to the success of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), which recently increased its commitment to the Caribbean from $3 billion to $5 billion.
“Africa did not knock louder, Africa built its own door,” Davis said.
“They founded the African Export-Import Bank, Afreximbank, an institution to finance African trade on African terms.
“They did not wait for permission, they began the work themselves.”
Davis noted that more than $750 million has already been deployed in the Caribbean through Afreximbank, with more than $2 billion in additional financing opportunities in the pipeline.
He highlighted ongoing efforts to establish a Caribbean Export-Import Bank as a critical next step for the region.
The prime minister also cautioned against rising nationalism and competition among Caribbean states for scarce investment capital, arguing that regional collaboration is essential to long-term prosperity.
“The Caribbean has never needed speed. The Caribbean has always needed distance,” said Davis.
“And, no single one of our economies, no matter how determined, can travel that distance on its own.”
Davis urged regional governments to strengthen existing institutions, including CARICOM (Caribbean Community) and the Caribbean Development Bank, while developing new financial tools capable of supporting investment and resilience.
“It is no longer enough to be a region the world is willing to invest in,” he said. “We must become a region willing to invest in itself.”
