Prime Minister Gaston Browne will underscore the importance of the region’s
services sector highlighting that after fifty years of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM), the sector is now the most dominant in regional economies.
PM Browne is scheduled to deliver a major statement on the Services Sector as
part of the celebrations marking CARICOM’s 50 th Anniversary. under the theme
‘Advancing the Services Agenda within CARICOM.’ Prime Minister Browne is
the lead Spokesman on Services in the Quasi Cabinet in CARICOM.
In his prepared remarks made available ahead of its delivery today, the prime
minister pointed to the data to support his contention regarding the regional
services sector.
“Given the data, it is my settled view that the Services sector has been and remains
the largest sector in the regional economy, during the first fifty years of regional
integration. The sector has also been a critical earner of foreign exchange,
contributing a persistent surplus on the services account which has partially offset
an equally persistent deficit in trade in goods,” PM Browne reports.
He revealed that in 2019 alone, the most recent normal year, the Services sector
contributed US$65.2 billion, or 74.4% of total output (GDP), within the
Community. It also generated a surplus of US$4.3 billion on the services account
of the Balance of Payments, which to some measure helped to offset a deficit in
trade in goods for the same period. Labour force data up to 2015, indicated that
the Services sector accounted for 75% of total employment. Further, according to
the Caribbean Development Bank, MSMEs represent between 70-85% of
Caribbean businesses and contribute between 60-70% of the Gross Domestic
Product. Critically, they account for an estimated 50% of total employment.
The Antigua and Barbuda leader wants the region to continue to leverage
opportunities for achieving the Community’s objectives of full employment of
labor and other factors of production and enjoying future sustainable economic
growth and development by boosting the international competitiveness of both its
goods and services production and trade.
“Notwithstanding what I have reported, our Community is still to harness the full
potential of the regional services sector and, as we enter the next fifty years, our
task is to set that ambition for the next generation of leaders. We continue to face
major structural constraints in the Community which slow the pace of
implementation and ultimately the achievement of the intended benefits of regional
integration,” he suggested.
The services sector includes the wholesale trade, hotels and restaurants,
transportation and communications, health care and education, financial services,
and the creative sector.
