The region’s leading development banker has underscored that unlocking the full potential of the Caribbean’s private sector depends on the deliberate removal of barriers that restrict access to capital.
Addressing delegates at the Global Business Conference, hosted by BIBA, the Association for Global Business, at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Sam Lord’s Castle, President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Daniel Best, outlined the institution’s targeted support for advancing private sector growth across the region.
Delivering the Day 2 keynote address at the conference — a key highlight of Global Business Week 2025 — Best told attendees:
“[The] CDB will support legal and regulatory reforms that reduce the cost of doing business, strengthen property rights, modernise insolvency frameworks and improve contract enforcement. A more efficient and transparent environment will translate directly into greater competitiveness.”
He noted that one of the CDB’s key priorities will be expanding access to finance, lamenting the “narrow and inadequate range of financing options” currently available to firms in the Bank’s 19 borrowing member countries.
According to Best, the tools that will be deployed by the Barbados-based institution include “direct lending, equity participation, partial credit guarantees and loan syndication.”
Focusing on enterprise development, the CDB president said that micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will receive targeted support to help them “adopt digital tools, access new markets, integrate into value chains and strengthen resilience in sectors such as the blue economy, creative industries and green technology.”
The Global Business Conference — one of Barbados’ premier business events attracting executives and leaders from legal, insurance, accounting, compliance, and other professional services — also heard that the Bank will intensify its focus on the MSME sector. Statistics have consistently shown that MSMEs represent the leading source of private sector employment across the Caribbean.
“Our focus is on de-risking MSMEs, the backbone of our regional economies, while catalysing investment flows to businesses and projects that matter most. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the Bank will launch a Trade Finance Guarantee Programme pilot,” he disclosed, emphasizing the importance of providing direct and indirect guarantees through risk participation agreements.
Best further explained that by leveraging the CDB’s AAA-Plus credit rating, the Bank’s guarantees will effectively reduce credit costs and enhance firms’ ability to trade by providing easier access to raw materials and other essential inputs.
Importantly, the CDB head told the hybrid audience — which included local, regional, and international participants in-person and online — that the Bank will build on the findings of the Partial Guarantee Demand Study completed earlier this year. That study revealed an estimated US$413 million (BDS$826 million) in MSME credit demand, yet only 2.5 percent of these businesses currently have access to commercial credit with guarantees.
He added:
“Our Project Preparation Facility, PBF, will assist governments in mobilising private capital on a large scale, creating pipelines of bankable projects across critical sectors, including renewable energy, water and sanitation, transport, ICT, and social infrastructure.”
(By Geralyn Edward for BIBA, the Association for Global Business)
