The Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Sen. Hon. Dr. Ubaldus Raymond, and the Director of Economics of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr. Justin Ram, recently revealed the findings of a joint Caribbean Development Bank and Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Report on Saint Lucia.

CDB Director, Dr. Ram stated that Saint Lucia needs to reverse certain economic trends in order to improve its economic standing.

“Saint Lucia, like the many other Caribbean countries—and the Caribbean Development Bank has 19 member countries in the Caribbean—so that like those 18 other member countries, Saint Lucia also exhibits some of the same problems that we see across the region: the economy is characterized by low growth, deflecting a high concentration in exports, as well as very high and growing debt. The Government of Saint Lucia has articulated the desire to reverse these trends.”

Minister Raymond said that improving the economy will have to be a national effort.

“The government is very serious about growing the economy and we believe that we should not be doing it alone. We believe that we should be in consultation with the public in moving forward. So we want to be very open, and very transparent in achieving the various social and economic objectives we have in focus for the country.”

The report titled "Fiscal and Structural Reforms in Saint Lucia towards a Comprehensive Agenda" will soon be available for public perusal.