Supply Capacity - CEB

Given the openness of Caribbean economies, CDB, throughout its history, has always been involved directly and indirectly in promoting the expansion of the external sector as part of its strategy to promote growth, expand employment and reduce poverty in the Region. In the early decades, most of the attention focused on export agriculture (sugar, bananas) and light manufacture for export (garments, shoes, paper, wood, chemical and non-metallic mineral products). More recently, the Bank has been substantially engaged in the provision of infrastructure and direct investments in the tourism industry. The expansion and diversification of the Region’s export supply capacity remains an enduring preoccupation of the Bank.

Currently, the Bank is engaged in a number of technical assistance projects with other donors such as the IDB to strengthen private sector activity in the Region.

The CDB provides loans and grants directly to the Governments of its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs), to public sector enterprises and to private sector entities and enterprises operating within its BMCs. The Bank also provides funding to regional institutions (e.g CARICOM and CARICOM-affiliated agencies), and loans for pre-investment/feasibility studies if it considers a project worthy of investigation.

Specific private sector development projects which are considered not large enough to warrant direct supervision by CDB may be financed through loans to national development banks or other suitable intermediaries.

CDB may make equity investments where this assists the Bank in fulfilling its development mandate. This can be done through taking a minority stake in specific companies or through investing in equity funds that have a mandate to invest in companies in CDB’s BMCs.

CDB’s operations provide principally for the financing of specific projects, (whether forming part of national, sub-regional or regional development programmes) in such fields as agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry, marketing, manufacturing, mining, refining, tourism, export services, transportation, housing (low and lower/middle income), education (including student loans and training for resource development), power, water, sewerage, infrastructure and related services, waste management, environment protection and poverty reduction. An important consideration in all of these projects is the promotion of social equity and environmental sustainability.