CARICOM HAS MANAGED COVID-19 VERY WELL SAYS SECRETARY GENERAL

CARICOM Secretary General, His Excellency, Irwin Larocque, says CARICOM has managed the covid-19 pandemic very well.

The economies of Caribbean countries have been severely affected by the covid-19 pandemic as one of the sectors that was hardest hit was the tourism sector.

Ambassador Larocque was the guest of Prime Minister Skerrit’s Anou Pale programme on Sunday June 6^th 2021.

“I think we have done fairly well. It is not just from my perspective but from the perspective from others who have watched on, in terms of the health aspect of it. From our health aspect, when you look at the figures and compare to per capital to other regions and other countries and given the fact we were behind and we don’t have the resources to do all what we wanted to do, I think we have done very well, we have coordinated very well. CARPHA has been the science advisor to all the member countries, to our region and member states have utilized it and adjusted accordingly as per their domestic situation. But I think by and large our numbers speak for themselves on the health front. And of course some countries are in their 3^rd wave now and some countries are seeing some spikes but I think that citizens have a responsibility as well to do their part and to observe the protocols,” Mr. Larocque stated.

The CARICOM Secretary General says the revamping of the economies of member states is going to be a challenge. Ambassador Larocque says the international financial institutions have said that CARICOM is the most affected region economically in the world given the fact the countries are heavily dependent on tourism.

“We’ve seen our tourism industry more or less decimated over the period of last year, although we some reopening going on now. We’ve seen revenues decline in member states as much as 50 percent while expenditures went up. We’ve seen last year impact of GDP of almost 20 percent among many of our member states, the average being 15 percent. To grow out of that of course depends on us beig able to access the vaccines and vaccinating ourselves into herd immunity. We have been balancing lives and livelihoods but it is going to be a tough stretch but it I going to be a tough stretch. But some of the analysis is suggesting that by 2024, if we are able to get the vaccines and administer them accordingly then we should be back to where we were pre covid,” the Ambassador explained.  

Ambassador Larocque says the countries will face a lasting effect because of debts incurred during the pandemic but appeals to all citizens of the countries to get vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.