BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados has told the inaugural Caribbean Services Exporters Symposium (CSES) that regional countries must seize opportunities presented by trade services and bolster the sector financially.
“The linchpin to this vibrant sector on which our region’s economy has heavily relied are micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Many of our service providers operate in this space. This must be acknowledged and celebrated because MSMEs, in large part, comprise a significant portion of our business community,” Minister of State in Foreign Trade and Business Sandra Husbands told the online symposium organized by the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI).
Sandra Husbands (File Photo)
Husbands reminded colleague ministers, experts, practitioners, and professionals that as catalysts for innovation and growth, the region’s MSMEs foster a diverse economic ecosystem that has proven its resilience to geopolitical shocks from around the globe.
She said that it was particularly so over the last three years, noting that trading services remained critical to growth in the region and were the fastest-growing and largest factor within CARICOM.
She said the region had witnessed a remarkable resurgence of services exports in recent years, contributing substantially to CARICOM’s gross domestic product.
“This has occurred despite having to navigate the dampening effect of COVID-19. According to the International Trade Center’s trade statistics for International Development, before COVID-19, CARICOM services exports increased by 7.86 percent. This was from 2018 to 2019. “Though the available figures between 2020 and 2022 are provisional, it illustrates that between 2019 and 2022, there has been some fluctuation in the region’s services exports pro forma. Now, between 2019 and 2020, at the earliest stages of the pandemic, the value of services exports declined by 56.65 percent.”
Husbands said that this has had a tremendous impact on governments and their capacity to respond to the challenges of COVID-19. The services exports rebounded and increased by 29.46 percent between 2020 and 2021 and 50.9 percent between 2021 and 2022.
“This means that it has demonstrated that though they are vulnerabilities in light of the external shocks, it points to the fact that… it can be very resilient. And, this is indeed because of the quality of our entrepreneurs in the services spaces,” she said.
The symposium heard that sectors like tourism and hospitality, as well as financial services, had emerged over the years as growth leaders, contributing immensely to the region’s GDP, and this was due in no small part to the tireless efforts of MSMEs.
Husbands said that the services platform is one of CARICOM’s economic operators that could be utilized to flourish and thrive if given the requisite support.
“I want to stress if we are going to be serious about putting services forward, we must put financial resources behind differing service providers,” she added.
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