Caribbean Region: Current Economic Situation, Regional Issues and Capital Flows, 1992 (World Bank Studies)

The objective of this report is to focus attention on the performance, problems, needs and prospects of the fifteen Caribbean countries which are members of both the Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development and the World Bank. It provides an overview of overall developments affecting the Caribbean countries over the past fifteen years as well as progress achieved during this period. The efforts needed to accelerate the implementation of the reform agenda are examined focusing on the conditions needed to achieve macroeconomic stability, efforts needed to accelerate privatization, trade reform and domestic deregulation, and developments regarding the various preferential agreements which benefit the Caribbean countries. The paper examines the flow of resources to the Caribbean countries since 1978 and relates it to the process of adjustment and growth during this period and to the efforts required to strengthen this process during the 1990s. It also presents estimates of assistance needed during 1992-93. The report evaluates the stock of human resources, indicates the incidence of poverty, assesses the positive and negative factors affecting human resource development, regional policy options, and highlights the human resource development issues for the 1990s. The ecosystems in the Caribbean countries are also described.