The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) on Thursday, unveiled a plan that could very well put Saint Lucia on track to double the size of its economy over the next ten years.
With an emphasis on what it calls ‘The Big Push’, the ECCB said Saint Lucia has to be bold enough to take certain steps that will allow it to grow exponentially.
But that of course, is no easy feat, and the ECCB’s Governor, Timothy N.J. Antoine, acknowledged this much when he met with media practitioners on Thursday.
So how can the country achieve such a lofty aspiration?
“For us to achieve ‘The Big Push’ for Saint Lucia, several actions are required,” Governor Antoine said.
That includes crime reduction, human capital formation, digital transformation, financial sector development, fiscal adjustment and climate resilience.
But what exactly is ‘The Big Push’? It is framed around the question that was highlighted before: What will it take to double the size of Saint Lucia’s economy over the next 10 years?
Currently, the economy “is around ($5.74 billion),” Governor Antoine stated.
So how can we get to $11.48 billion by 2033 – a figure and a timeframe given by the ECCB?
“What we’ve made clear is that we have to do quite a few things but the fundamental ingredients will be courage, execution and speed,” Governor Antoine told reporters, that “essentially, to grow the economy and double it in ten years, you have to grow at 7 per cent every year” for the next decade.
“Now that’s not easy, because while you’re doing that (you’re) dealing with shocks (like) natural disasters; the ups and downs of the economic cycle, global developments of which we have no control,” the governor acknowledged.
Nonetheless, it is feasible, Governor Antoine indicated.
In a ‘Roadmap’ shared with the media, the ECCB highlighted the following points:
‘Building human capital with emphasis on embracing skills for the future’.
That would require Saint Lucians to:
– Imagine Saint Lucia as a hub of human capital fit for the 21st century.
– Pursue a formal human capacity development strategy that involves retraining and investment in skills to ensure a future-focused and fit workforce.
– Develop a national AI strategy that is pro-worker and lifts all sectors of the economy and society.
On the other hand, climate resilience should be combined with the ease of climate finance access.
Climate resilience
– Building climate resilience in current construction projects such as housing, education, health facilities, road networks, port facilities, water and electrical systems.
– Ongoing work by ECCB on:
– Advocacy for ECCU member countries and ECCU Renewable Energy Infrastructure Investment Facility (REIIF).
Leveraging sports to expand the Youth Economy:
Following the success of Julien Alfred at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, sports should be deployed as a channel for collaboration, conflict resolution and national pride, the ECCB stated.
– For economic growth through sports tourism
This would require building the sporting infrastructure at the national and community levels.
– The ECCB is currently working on a policy paper exploring the use of sports as a deterrence for crime.
It also calls for:
– Mandatory sports in school policy.
According to Governor Antoine, this week, “we have had several engagements including the prime minister, the Governor General (and) Cabinet. The Leader of the Opposition was scheduled to meet on Monday but he is travelling. We have shared the presentation with him and agreed that on his return we will schedule soon an engagement with him and his team.”
“We also met with social partners which include The Chamber, labour unions, civil society, faith community and our youth. On Tuesday we met with our bankers. Yesterday we visited our mentorship school, the Gordon and Walcott Methodist Memorial School, and we also visited the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College,” Governor Antoine said, adding that “this morning we met with members of the diplomatic and consular corps and now we are meeting with media.”
The ECCB has projected that Saint Lucia will grow on average by about 4 per cent over the next three years “predicated on the continued growth of tourism and construction in particular public infrastructure,” Governor Antoine said.
Saint Lucia’s economy remains the largest in the Currency Union.
The island contributed 26.5 per cent of the regional GDP in 2023, according to the ECCB.
The economy showed resilience amid international and domestic challenges and is estimated to have surpassed pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2023 led by the resurgence of tourism; tourism activity remains strong.
Despite this, there are other points to consider.
– Public debt grew in part due to the government’s limited fiscal space. A large fiscal adjustment is required to place the public debt on a sustainable path
– Debt analysis shows that economic growth is essential to help improve the debt dynamics in Saint Lucia.
– Saint Lucia ranks second lowest in financial literacy based on the ECCB’s recent financial literacy survey.
Overall, however, the ECCB projects that Saint Lucia’s economy will be on a positive track for the rest of 2024 into 2025.