Caribbean debt initiatives highlight disaster impact

Subject

Multilateral debt relief options.

Significance

At the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) presented a proposal for multilateral debt relief for Caribbean island states. Barbados's finance minister, Chris Sinckler, has since called for the region to be granted no less favourable debt relief than that made available under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in the 1990s.

Impacts

• Caribbean countries cite debt reduction as indispensable to tackle both socioeconomic stability and global risks such as climate change.
• However, securing broad support for debt reduction will be difficult.
• The question of conditionality will be a vexed one.