Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ says high membership fees are among several reasons why St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not a member of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is a multilateral financial institution based in Washington, D.C., that serves as the primary source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean.
On the WEFM Issue at Hand programme on Sunday, Gonsalves stated that his government has considered membership in recent years, but has decided to remain with the CDB.
“We looked at it twice; the fees are very high.” And we thought that we would just stay with the CDB and get the option of still getting help from the IDB, but the money would come through the CDB rather than us being shareholders.”
“The other thing too is that the countries in Latin America prefer it to be like this because the extent of what we will bring in terms of capital to the bank will be relatively small.” “But if we could go as independent states, you’ll see how much that skews the strength of the Caribbean, the CARICOM countries within the IDB,” Gonsalves said.
In October 2022, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a US$20 million loan to the Caribbean Development Bank to bolster private-sector development and boost the productivity of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and all eligible members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States.
