RC Trebucq's Opening Remarks at the UN-CDB High-Level Roundtable Addressing the Triple Crisis in Food, Energy and Finance for the Eastern Caribbean

Honourable Ministers, Ambassadors

Representatives of the Governments,

President of CDB

Development Partners,

Distinguished Guests here and online,

A pleasant good morning to all,

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has had an undeniable impact on the world economy, following the impact of the COVID pandemic; but for Caribbean Small Island States, this has been the tipping point towards spiralling food and fuel prices;. The high exposure that the region has to external markets means that they are facing first-hand the impacts with little room to manoeuvre.

The findings from the recent CARICOM and WFP/FAO Survey conducted last month estimates that 57 percent of the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean are food insecure. Equally concerning is that transportation costs for food and non-food imports have increased by up to 150 – 300 percent over the past six months – inflating the cost of living to exorbitant levels. Although now falling gradually, fuel prices have hiked up the price of almost all goods and services, threatening livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and most likely increasing poverty rates.

Unfortunately, these trends have peaked in the context of a progressive post-pandemic recovery and rise in indebtedness over 100% in many countries. Governments have been compelled to act quickly and decisively to protect the most vulnerable and to manage inflationary pressures.

Distinguished Guests,

Against this backdrop, we’re now faced with a dilemma on multiple fronts. How do we continue to effectively respond to the immediate crisis whilst mobilizing resources and policy solutions towards long-term investment in resilience or climate adaptation?

The energy crisis that we speak of, although severe, is not entirely new to the region. SIDS are highly exposed to fuel price volatility. But this is an  insurmountable vulnerability without a green transformation that prioritizes renewables in the energy mix;  This has been postponed for too long in the region. Moreover, energy efficiency investments alone have the potential to reduce the total generation needed by 18 percent while producing net benefits of US$6 billion for the Caribbean. 

Given the vulnerability of SIDS energy systems to hurricanes and tropical storms, investment in resilience energy generation is critical. Initial estimates suggest that around US$2.5 billion in resilience could yield net benefits worth over US$4 billion.

The same goes for food security. Small markets, vast distances to trading partners and low productivity capacity pose significant challenges for SIDS. We need to re-focus the work on increasing investments in food systems, regional food productivity and trade. We also need to develop targeted initiatives to resolve bottlenecks towards import reduction.

This requires developing incentives to better attract finance towards more climate resilient and less energy intensive forms of agriculture production. For example - agroecology, which is less reliant on chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels.

Government Representatives,

We are all aware that all SIDS across the world, face serious constraints accessing finance that is affordable and appropriate for development-related investments. In a time of rising interest rates and economic uncertainty, tapping into innovative finance solutions and domestic private capital is a conversation that cannot cease.

For example, in the period 2018-2019, US$50 billion was mobilized globally to development by official development finance interventions with just 8 percent directed towards the social sectors. However, most blended finance flowed to traditional sectors such as energy, industry, mining and construction. How can the region use this sectoral bias to its advantage?

There is a need to explore how the public and private sector can work together to unlock these sources of finance. This would include working with the private sector to better manage risk or de-risk investments, especially in the green sector such as renewable energy. Derisking also implies to address institutional bottlenecks and sectoral capacity to instil confidence in financiers.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As we advance today’s discussions, we should keep in our minds the idea of our work towards greater self-sufficiency. We can see that major economies are struggling, and we are at the precipice of a global recession (if it hasn’t started already). Therefore, exploiting trade capacity is key to achieving food security and this requires the acceleration of  our regional integration arrangements.

We must advance the removal of intra-regional barriers to trade for regional produce, promote investments in regional trade logistics and restructure port tariff structures.  

Building a bridge between the public and private sector in this area is critical. With further investment from all CARICOM countries, the region can reach its 2025 target of a reduction in food imports by at least 25%.

Finally, I would also invite you to think outside the box when it comes to how we work together. This includes probing what partnerships and mechanisms can be better leveraged to support countries in implementing the solutions proposed today.

Thank you again for your participation, and I hope that today we will conclude with tangible actions and a way forward that can truly  help make a difference.