Barbados prime minister highlights disparities in the global financial system

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is calling for a debt repayment system for Caribbean countries, similar to what was granted to Britain after World War II that allowed that country to have the fiscal space to return to a path of development.

Lamenting the absence of such provisions in the international financial system, Mottley pointed out that middle-income countries have been set back at least a decade because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking during  the recent UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Forum at the Distinguished Arthur Lewis Event , she pointed to disparities in the global financial system that provided developed countries with significant leeway to access financing at minimal repayment terms compared to that of developing countries.

Speaking on the topic: ‘A Conversation on Sustainable Island Futures,’ Mottley made the point that such critical financial decisions that have a global impact are made without any consultation. The forum also featured Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

Citing issues with the current global system

Said Mottley: “There has to be something fundamentally immoral about a global community that is prepared to used proxies that are convenient to them and economists and bureaucrats but bear no relationship to the quality of life of our citizens, which we set out to protect, set out to protect in the charter of the United Nations (UN) being established in 1945, set out to protect when the UN accepted that development is an inalienable right, set out to protect each time we meet and each time we bring these high-sounding declarations.”

Mottley stressed training and education as two critical factors that will spur Barbados’ development in the coming years, and noted that The University of the West Indies had a critical role to play.

She said, however, that the challenges of delivering education reform and other social services have been further compounded by the threats posed by climate change, coupled with the global pandemic.

Educators commenting about the world as they see it

Sachs, who was adviser to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, said countries around the world need to work together, rather than practise divisive, winner-take-all politics, which he described as dangerous.

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, noted the historic significance of the Mottley-Sachs conversation.

Said Beckles: “It’s the most important conversation facing all of us in the world today. How do we look at these post-colonial states in a globalised economy that insists upon a certain control over the world’s resources? How do all of these people who are demanding their fair share and dignity in this world proceed? What’s the most effective path? What’s the nature of resistance and partnership? How do we combine seemingly contradictory forces to achieve collaboration and justice.”

Barbados’governor general, Dame Sandra Mason, also attended the forum, which was held at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination.