Above: Trinidad (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

With high debt and a vulnerability to natural disasters, the Caribbean must seek out new areas for growth, according to Trinidad Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran.

The Governor, who was speaking at a conference on economic diversification this week, pointed to three potential areas for diversification: science and technology, the green economy and taking advantage of the region’s aging population.

“The brutal reality is that the Caribbean must find new sources of growth in a very uncertain external environment,” he said.

According to Rambarran, there is much potential within the Caribbean Sea itself, from harnessing marine-based energy, including wind, wave and tidal to improving the understanding of deep-sea minerals as a possible new revenue stream.

The region can also promote responsible fisheries and aquaculture toward developing a “green economy.”

The latter could help mitigate the effects of climate change on a region that is expected to be severely impacted in the coming century.
Indeed, the cost of inaction on climate change could reach $22 billion by 2050 on the region, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the Caribbean’s GDP.