CDB offers support for Saint Lucia’s COVID-19 recovery efforts

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The Government of Saint Lucia is set to receive a loan valued at USD 5.217 million to bolster COVID-19 recovery efforts from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The CDB, launched the Saint Lucia segment of its Safety Nets for Vulnerable Populations Affected by Coronavirus Project, to support the Government of Saint Lucia (GOSL) in addressing the multifaceted impacts of the Pandemic, which have been particularly severe for CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries and other small developing states.

CDB’s Project will facilitate initiatives which target the welfare and education systems to increase minimum income and employment levels.

Dr Martin Baptiste, CDB’s Social Sector Division Chief, who was speaking at the launch on April 13, 2023, said, “Given the ongoing challenges which have to be addressed within a context of limited fiscal space and competing development priorities, this intervention will provide resources to support the provision of services to poor and vulnerable cohorts of the population including sub-population groups hardest hit by the crisis.”

(From left) Saint Lucian government officials, Hon. Shawn A. Edward, (left) Minister of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training and Hon. Joachim Henry, (right) Minister of Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment, flank Dr Martin Baptiste, the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Social Sector Division Chief, at the launch of the Safety Nets for Vulnerable Populations Affected by Coronavirus Project. The initiative, which will be financed with a USD5.217 million (mn) loan from the CDB, will bolster COVID-19 recovery efforts in Saint Lucia. The launch was held on April 13, 2023 at Bay Gardens Hotel, in Rodney Bay.

He added, “CDB is pleased to partner with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Government of Saint Lucia in designing and implementing this project which is intended to contribute to ensuring minimum levels of quality of life for vulnerable persons affected by the crisis caused by COVID-19 as well as preserving Saint Lucia’s human capital in an inclusive, equitable and gender-responsive manner.”

The Bank is allocating the financing from the InterAmerican Development Bank’s (IDB) Global Loan Programme for Safety Nets for Vulnerable Populations.

CBD is also providing similar loans to bolster shock-responsive social protection in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The intervention in Saint Lucia continues CDB’s longstanding engagement with the Eastern Caribbean nation.

An assessment conducted by Saint Lucia’s Central Statistics Office in 2020 on the negative effects of the COVID crisis on the population, revealed that 71.2 per cent of households reported reductions in income, and 15 per cent had difficulty accessing necessities such as food and medicine.

COVID-19 also placed significant stress on Saint Lucia’s social protection systems which struggled to meet the increased demands as conditions worsened.