Vice President attends meeting to elect new IDB President

– calls for creative tools and packages to address the needs of small states

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, today participated in the Special Meeting of the Board of Governors to elect a new President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

On August 4, 2020, Guyana announced its support for the candidacy of Mr. Mauricio Claver–Carone.

In his capacity as Guyana’s Governor of the IDB, Mr. Jagdeo, addressed the meeting and stressed the need for the new President to tackle support for small states in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Further, Mr. Jagdeo addressed the challenges posed by COVID-19 in the Region, particularly for Caribbean countries, including dealing with overburdened health systems, loss of economic output, revenue and employment. He indicated that many countries in the Region have had to redirect resources, from fiscally stressed budgets, for tackling the challenges caused by the pandemic to the servicing of onerous debts.

Mr. Jagdeo urged recognition of the peculiar circumstances of small states in Region, including the fact that some of these countries have graduated out of concessional financing. As such, he called on the Bank to ensure that creative tools and packages be crafted to address the needs of these small states.