Barbados PM Calls for an End to Caribbean Financial Pariah Status

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has called on international agencies to quit treating Caribbean countries like financial pariahs.  Her comments were in relation to the recent blacklisting of Belize and two other countries by the European Union Council.  PM Mottley was speaking at the session on Access to Finance; Global Financial Architecture Reform at the CARICOM Canada Summit 2023.

Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister, Barbados: “We have maintained that the one size fits all prescription and the victimhood of rules that are imposed on us are not of our own making, cannot continue. Up to yesterday, two more countries were blacklisted and the consequences of this blacklisting continue to hurt our countries because effectively, companies will de-risk as a result of the enhanced due diligence that must be put in place in order for them to continue to do business. Similarly, the correspondent banking issues continue to bedevil my brother to the right, and too many of our countries as if we were financial lepers or pariahs and the absence of the international financial institutions and the G7 and G20 countries to recognize the disproportionate consequences on our people are simply unacceptable. We come to these meetings and we are not getting the needle moving because of the absence of political will, political will that is focused on domestic politics, political will that is focused on geopolitics. I asked myself what was so special about 1969 that caused the countries of the world to rise to the leadership to introduce special drawing rights. Why are they more than equal to the task of their times than we are to the task of our times when the crises that we face are significantly greater? I believe that Canada has the potential not just to be a leader on this, but to also start to be able to help us speak truth to power to the remaining few countries who are blocking progress at the World Bank and at the IMF.”