Dominica Tuesday called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international lending agencies to revisit their lading policies as developing countries sought more financial and other assistance in dealing with the impact of a changing global environment.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, addressing the IMF Western Hemisphere Department Managing Director’s virtual meeting with Caribbean authorities, said that this moment in history should force everyone, including organizations like the IMF “to review our understanding of policies and approaches affect real people.
“Indeed, balancing lives is as crucial as balancing our books,’ Skerrit said, urging the international community “ to throw their collective weight and resources behind our efforts by adopting the vulnerability index as the measure for determining grant concessional financing to small island developing states (SIDS).
He said the index should be designed with the involvement “of our best expertise and should not be a unilateral position” as had been done in the past.
He urged additional financing to countries to deal with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including vaccines, social programs, and supporting micro-small and medium-sized firms.
“Providing additional concessional financing for budget support and relaxing fiscal rules in an appropriate, limited, and temperate way to get us through this period of crisis.
Skerrit also called for creating growth and resilient fund that can provide easy access to grant financing for resilient projects “that would pay for itself by reducing vulnerability, loss, and damage.”
On Thursday, the IMF Western Hemisphere Department director, Alejandro Werner, will present the IMF’s latest Regional Economic Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean.
and then 