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The private sector is the engine of growth. After all, real economic growth in any society depends on earnings from goods and services.
Countries rely on tourism, manufacturing, accounting services, or the small shop on your street to generate jobs for their people, innovate, create wealth, and provide opportunities for everyone.
The COVID-19 pandemic has damaged the engine of economic growth because businesses and industries have witnessed declining sales, slowdowns in performance, cessation of activities – temporary or otherwise – and unprecedented uncertainty.
Governments have been providing a fix right now. But our governments cannot carry out all of the repairs ad infinitum. Therefore, the private sector is crucial to helping the region rebuild in a sustainable, inclusive, and economically viable way.
The devastation of the region's tourism industry at the hands of the pandemic demonstrates the extent of the damage to the engine, especially in those Caribbean countries where tourism is the mainstay.
Pre-COVID, tourism was a key generator of foreign exchange across the Caribbean. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in 2019, the tourism industry accounted for 42 percent of total exports (goods and services) in the Caribbean. And it represented 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Further, because of the linkages in tourism to other private sector activities such as agriculture, food, beverages, transport, construction, the creative industries, and other services, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that the tourism economy is about 2.5 times larger than the tourist sector in the Caribbean, representing therefore about more than a quarter or 26% of total GDP. This is a considerable portion of economic activity.
ECLAC, in an impact scenario, shows that the slump in tourism may cause total GDP growth in the Caribbean to fall by 8 percentage points, and the total employment rate could potentially decline by 7 percentage points.
The impact on two highly tourism-dependent Caribbean countries hammer home the point about the trauma on the tourism sector and, by extension, the region's private sector. Tourism declined by 63 percent in Antigua & Barbuda and 91.4 percent in Grenada between January and April 2021, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO).
The annihilation of our bread and butter industry means that change, transitioning, and reimagining are essential.
The August edition of the Caribbean Economic Forum will therefore focus on “Transitioning the Private Sector.”
Adam Stewart, Group Executive Chairman, Sandals Resorts International; Anthony Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Goddard Enterprises Limited; and Anthony Sabga III, Group Chief Executive Officer, ANSA McAL Group of Companies will chat about how they have been readapting, reimagining, and rejigging their businesses.
These Caribbean private sector juggernauts are involved in economic activity ranging from tourism and retail to manufacturing and green energy. They will examine how, independently and working with governments and other private sector entities, they will rev up the economic engine. Hear them explain how they will rebuild the Caribbean to be economically, socially, and environmentally fitter, stronger and healthier, where everyone benefits, feels included and justly rewarded. In essence, they'll share how the private sector will transition to the new norm that propels digitisation, poverty reduction/alleviation, climate action, and stakeholder capitalism.
Tune in to the Caribbean Economic Forum on Thursday, August 5 at 8:00 p.m. in Barbados (7:00 p.m. in Jamaica). Watch it on the Central Bank of Barbados' Facebook page or YouTube channel, or a television station in your country, and join the conversation in the comments section of the Facebook livestream, or send your questions by email at questions@centralbank.org.bb or via email at (246) 266-8830.