Private Sector Development in the
Caribbean: tools for dynamism
Workshop for Caribbean
Competitiveness Authorities
ACF Trinidad, 2014
The Caribbean
A region with declining long-term growth,
large debts, and growing fiscal deficits
Economic growth
Positive
200.0
Growth
Guyana
Barbados
Zero
- Antigua and Barbuda
- St. Kitts and Nevis
Growth0.00
Negative Suriname
Trinidad &
-200.0
Growth
Tobago
Grenada
The
Bahamas
-400.0
- St. Vincent & the
Grenadines
- St. Lucia
- Dominica
Jamaica
-600.0
Inverted U debt curve
C-6
-800.0
OECS
ROSE
-1000.0
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170
Debt-to-GDP ratio
Why dynamic PSD?
1. Dynamic firms: >10% rate growth x 3 years
2. Responsible for most new jobs (+ prod gains)
Eco-system of support
3. Dynamism driven by innovation
4. Innovation thrives in eco-system of support:
finance + technical assistance + regulation
R&D funding
Angels
VC funding
Credit
Seed capital
Availability of K
Mentors
R&D
Start-up, sustainability and expansion Operation and Consolidation
Business environment: regulation + taxes
Early exports important
5. Dynamic firms rapidly hit limits of the
domestic market
Tools for the region
• InvestAmericas – finance, technical assistance,
knowledge about other markets
• PROTEQIN – what regulatory hurdles do firms
face? What has improved over time?
• Large Regional Firms – what are some of the
successful strategies that dynamic Caribbean
firms have used to internationalize?