BRIDGETOWN – Despite major setbacks caused by a destructive 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is reporting a year of several developmental gains for the Region.

The Bank last year approved USD364 million (mn) in loans and grants, an increase of USD58 mn on the previous year, which has paved the way for the implementation of projects that focus on strengthening resilience, building back better and placing the Caribbean further along a path toward sustainable development.

“This path will not be without challenges but CDB remains committed to partnering with our BMCs to make extreme poverty in our Region a thing of the past,” said Daniel Best, Director of Projects, CDB during the Bank’s Annual News Conference on February 7, 2018. Pointing to the Bank’s flagship poverty reduction programme, the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), in his presentation to media, Best said that the allocation of USD40.8 mn in resources from the Bank’s Special Development Fund last year is helping CDB to continue addressing the needs of the Region’s most vulnerable through the programme. In 2017, BNTF also expanded its support to include entrepreneurial development, particularly among the Region’s youth. The Director also confirmed that in 2017, the Fund completed 152 sub-projects across its participating countries.

Best highlighted that, through partnerships with international donors, CDB last year mobilised additional concessional resources for infrastructural development across the Region. The Bank, in collaboration with development partners such as Agence Française de Développement; European Investment Bank, European Union; and the Governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, mobilised and operationalised concessional resources for infrastructure projects spanning the agriculture; education; energy; and water and sanitation sectors.(CDB)…[+]