The debilitating impact of the 2008 global economic crisis on Caribbean economies has once again reignited the debate on the role, options, and opportunities which the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)1 offers, or can offer the small fragile and vulnerable countries of the Anglo-phone Caribbean. The crisis, unexpected and unanticipated as it was, reared its head as the region’s efforts and resources were diverted toward implementing the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) as prescribed under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and the European Commission—CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
The severe effects of the global economic crisis on the growth performance of CARICOM states also came at a time when efforts at advancing the Caribbean Single Market (CSM), and particularly the economy component, appeared to have stalled. In fact, the timeline for a fully functioning Single Economy initially targeted for 2008, was later extended to 2015 after member countries failed to meet a number of key targets. The realization of a fully operational CSME, which was supposed to offset some of the very challenges that the region faces in terms of competitiveness and trade, now seems uncertain.2 At the same time, the severity of the decline in commodity prices, remittances, investment inflows and tourism receipts precipitated by the global economic recession,3 the major pillars upon which the economies of both the MDCs and LCDs of the region rely, calls into question whether these small, extremely open economies can in fact “go it alone,” or whether revisiting CARICOM integration now warrants some consideration.
This paper examines the issue of CARICOM growth and development in a post-crisis trade environment. The next section looks at the CSME as a regional response to neoliberal trade policies and rapid globalization. It argues that the rationale for a CSME was indeed to mitigate the negative effects of trade liberalization and competition on growth and development of these small CARICOM economies; yet the region finds itself in the very same predicament it sought to prevent with a regional mechanism that is, at best, lethargic and ill-prepared to respond. The subsequent section discusses the effects of the global crisis on CARICOM economies and interrogates whether the negative impacts of this global economic downturn can provide the fillip to re-energize the regional integration process. Further, the paper explores some of the policy prescriptions advanced by various Caribbean scholars and politicians with regard to a way forward. The last section of the paper examines the merits of a regional integration arrangement, and suggests that renewed efforts at integration is necessary to develop production capacity and encourage regional market enlargement.
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