Caribbean Cautious as Conditions Worsen

As financing opportunities become increasingly sparse for many of the Caribbean’s biggest issuers – including sovereigns like Jamaica as well as innovative high-end real estate developer CapCana – a tone of caution and worry prevails. With a backdrop of high food, inflation and energy prices, the region’s disparate island nations are also confronted with declining tourism, rising financing costs, and in some cases, burdensome debt loads. “We should take on a different tenor and recognize that a crisis is coming,” says Gervase Warner, chairman of industrial conglomerate Neal & Massy Woodgroup. Speaking at last week’s Euromoney/LatinFinance Caribbean Investment Forum in Port of Spain, he characterized the state of affairs as a massive brewing storm. Bankers dedicated to the region dismiss this gloom and doom scenario and point to solid track records in debt repayment and, in the case of Trinidad, economic resilience thanks to oil and gas self-sufficiency.