From Offshore\Governmental to Onshore\Entrepreneurial Economies

• Author: Kirk Meighoo
• Pages: 95-114

FROM OFFSHORE\GOVERNMENTAL

TO ONSHORE\ENTREPRENEURIAL ECONOMIES

Kirk Meighoo

9

comparative economic ranking as a group. To

be sure, individual countries have achieved

some success – notably Barbados, Bahamas,

St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda and

Trinidad and Tobago have attained standards of

living classif‌ied as High Human Development

by the UN. On the other hand, others have

faced serious challenges – notably Jamaica,

Guyana, and Haiti (See Table 1).

CARICOM economies’ global

performance

In comparative global terms, CARICOM’s

economic performance in its founding in 1973

to the present has not substantially changed its

Table 9.1 Ranking of CARICOM Countries in the 2007-8 UN Human Development Index (HDI)

HDI

rank

Life

expectancy

at birth

(years)

Adult

literacy rate

(% aged 15

and above)

Combined gross

enrolment ratio for

primary, secondary

and tertiary

education (%)

GDP per

capita

(PPP US$)

GDP per

capita

(PPP US$)

rank minus

HDI rank

High Human Development

31 Barbados 76.6 .. 88.9 17,297 8

49 Bahamas 72.3 .. 70.8 18,380 -12

54 St. Kitts and Nevis 70.0 97.8 73.1 13,307 -4

57 Antigua and Barbuda 73.9 85.8 .. 12,500 -4

59 Trinidad and Tobago 69.2 98.4 64.9 14,603 -14

Medium Human Development

71 Dominica 75.6 88.0 81.0 6,393 19

72 Saint Lucia 73.1 94.8 74.8 6,707 15

80 Belize 75.9 75.1 81.8 7,109 1

82 Grenada 68.2 96.0 73.1 7,843 -7

85 Suriname 69.6 89.6 77.1 7,722 -9

93 Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines

71.1 88.1 68.9 6,568 -4

97 Guyana 65.2 .. 85.0 4,508 12

101 Jamaica 72.2 79.9 77.9 4,291 11

146 Haiti 59.5 .. .. 1,663 2

Source: United Nations Human Development Report

CARICOM: POLICY OPTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT

96 CARICOM: POLICY OPTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT

96

Indeed, CARICOM’s largest and most

populated territories – Belize, Suriname,

Guyana, Jamaica, Haiti, comprising over 85%

of CARICOM’s population (66% excluding

Haiti) and over 95% of its total territory

– are its poorest performing economies,

ranking between 80 and 146 in the Human

Development Index (HDI), out of 177

countries.

To be sure, in tourism, offshore banking,

and Liquif‌ied Natural Gas (LNG) and

petrochemicals, the region has become a global

participant of some importance. However, the

centres of ownership and management of these

enterprises are foreign-based and not located

within CARICOM’s domestic entrepreneurial

space – continuing the economic pattern from

the days of King Sugar in the 18th and 19th

century.

Moreover, even for the better-

off performers in CARICOM, the

macroeconomic indicators do not adequately

reveal the economic challenges of the region.

In the well-off dual economies of CARICOM,

overall macroeconomic indicators mask the

underdevelopment of the backward sectors.

Indeed, the sector in which most CARICOM

citizens live and work remain low-wage,

high unemployment, low-productivity,

and comparatively uncompetitive in the

global context, with restricted opportunities

for individual advancement. This

underperformance can be gleaned, for example,

from the 2008–9 Global Competitive Index,

in which out of 134 measured countries, the

four ranked CARICOM economies fared

poorly: Jamaica at 86, Trinidad and Tobago at

92, Suriname at 103, and Guyana at 115 (see

Table 9.2).

Table 9.2 Rankings of CARICOM States in Selected Global Indices, 2008

Global Competitiveness

Index Rank (out of 134)

Global Ranking among

Remittance-Sending

Countries

Remittances as %

of GDP

Emigration rate of

Tertiary Educated

Persons (%)

Jamaica 86 4 18.5 82.5

Trinidad

and

Tobago

92 - - 78.4

Suriname 103 - - 89.9

Guyana 115 2 24.3 85.9

Haiti - 3 21.6 81.6

Sources: Global Competitiveness Index; World Bank Migration and Remittances Factbook

Also relevant are the data surrounding migration and remittances. According to the World

Bank, the Caribbean has the highest emigration rate of tertiary educated persons in the world,

comprising all 10 of the top 10 countries in 2006: Suriname (89.9%), Guyana (85.9%), Jamaica

(82.5%), Haiti (81.6%), Trinidad and Tobago (78.4%), St. Kitts and Nevis (71.8%), Grenada

(66.7%), Barbados (61.4%), Dominica (58.9%), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (56.8%).

Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic (member of CARIFORUM) ranked

among the world’s top 10 remittance-sending countries, placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th, and making

up 24.3%, 21.6%, 18.5%, and 10.0% of each country’s GDP, respectively (see Table 9.2).

Remittances are the number one source of foreign exchange earnings in many of CARICOM’s

foreign exchange-dependent economies, exceeding earnings from some of the top exported goods