November 4, 2022
The region is back to regular problems now that this COVID-19 pandemic is over. The International Monetary Fund said that growth is set to nearly halve for 2022. Of course, risk to growth remain evident with the rebound from the pandemic as there are still structural concerns for individual economies in the region.
In addition, as we watched Hurricane Lisa bear down on Belize, we see that we still have yet still a few more weeks left in the Atlantic Hurricane season. With that, there will have to be a rebuilding from Lisa’s impact. The IMF too warned about the lack of insurance in the region.
These problems sound familiar, right? Because they are. After 2019’s Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas, it was found that nearly 80 percent of homes and businesses had either no insurance or grossly uninsured.
We can imagine that trends throughout the entire region. So not only will we be hit by Hurricanes, we will find it difficult to rebuild from them.
The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility can only go so far. Odds have it that they may only be able to support stricken countries at a time of a disaster at about 10 percent of the overall estimated damage, if that. It is a new agency, and we have to bear with it. But $10 when you have nothing, despite needing $100, is better than nothing. You have $90 left to go.
So as we crawl back to normal problems, we have to be mindful that the normal problems need to be sorted too.