Antigua PM Urges U.S. To Increase Financing And Aid To The Caribbean

If the United States wants to reduce the number of refugees from the Caribbean attempting to cross its borders, its government must pay more attention to the needs of the region, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that the U.S. can help the Caribbean with financing and aid to assist the region in recovering from the blow of the pandemic and the gradual debilitating effects of climate change.

“I feel that the U.S. ought to pay more attention to the Caribbean region in helping us to maintain our standard of living to avoid any mass movement of people,” the Antigua PM said. “If people are unable to live in (Caribbean) countries, then clearly they’ll end up on the shores of the United States as refugees.”

Several Caribbean countries are struggling with “unsustainable debt loads,” which according to the Reuters report is equivalent to 100 percent of each country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Countries hesitate to request for loans from multilateral financial agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because the terms and conditions they give are not that favorable.

Browne revealed that a lot of countries had difficulties with loans because multilateral agencies tend to classify them as “middle- or high-income nations,” basing this critera on per-capita GDP measurements. This does not count in bigger costs a small island nation is facing because of climate change.

ARTICLE BY CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW