Most Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) economies today are barely recognizable when
compared to their former selves just a generation ago. Although not all countries have managed to rein in economic volatility, most have graduated to delivering an almost “normal” macroeconomic performance. The importance of this achievement cannot be overstated. Not only is macro stability critical to citizen wellbeing, but it is an essential foundation for faster growth and poverty alleviation. Progress can be detected in at least three areas.
Tag Archives: Caribbean
Success Story: BearingPoint
Tax compliance as a tool for development of small-sized countries
Dutch headquartered BearingPoint Caribbean were recently awarded a World Bank funded
project to modernize the tax administration on the Caribbean island of Grenada. The Grenada Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will be the 15th tax administration to use BearingPoint’s innovative software.
Grenada, like many other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), is highly vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters, and the economic dependence on tourism. In the post-Covid-19 era, the government of Grenada therefore wants to develop more resilience by improving fiscal sustainability. Domestic resource mobilization is now more important than ever.
The Digital Revolution: Fostering Inclusion and Resilient Growth
As developing countries struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, digital solutions are enabling economic transformation and putting them on a path toward green, resilient, and inclusive growth. Private and public investment in digital solutions is bringing critical services to the poorest, creating jobs, strengthening small and medium businesses, enabling trade and services, and building resilience to shocks. At the same time, more than half the developing world remains digitally unconnected, and risks around privacy and cybersecurity are growing worldwide.
The discussion about the digital revolution highlighted innovative ways countries are using digital technologies. From digital financial services, to remote schooling, to more inclusive government services, digital solutions are accelerating more equitable and resilient growth. We heard from public and private sector leaders from around the globe about how safe and effective digital technology has become essential to development in the digital age.
Risk insurance builds climate and disaster resilience in Central America and the Caribbean
With co-financing from a World Bank administered multi-donor trust fund (MDTF), the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company (CCRIF SPC) offers sovereign insurance for earthquakes, tropical cyclones, and excess rainfall to Caribbean and Central American countries. Currently, 19 countries in the Caribbean and 3 in Central America have memberships that through the years translated into 54 payouts totaling $245 million benefiting over 3.5 million people.
Continue readingeC2: Eastern Caribbean Currency Union: Renewable Energy Market sounding and barriers diagnostics
Deadline: 22-Mar-2021 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) 
The objective of this assignment is to provide consulting services to conduct diagnostics assessment for market barrier for renewable energy (RE) development and private sector investments in RE. The work will entail assessing RE investment readiness in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) countries and develop a market report.
Caribbean beaches are littered with single-use plastics
Article by Karin Kemper & Tahseen Sayed, www.blogs.worldbank.org
Concern about the world’s oceans is growing. Overfishing threatens fisheries, coral reefs 
are declining and disappearing, and the number of dead zones is increasing. A dearth of waste management on land results in pollutants and debris, including plastics, finding a home in the ocean.
A new World Bank report, Marine Pollution in the Caribbean: Not a Minute to Waste, analyzes the causes and offers solutions for ocean pollution in one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, now a hotspot for marine debris, especially plastics.
In the Caribbean and around the world, plastics and other waste are more likely to end up in the oceans when waste is poorly managed, such as through open dumping, open burning, and disposal in waterways.
The marine litter found in the Caribbean comes both from the region and from northern waters, brought in by prevailing currents.
Studies have measured the concentration of plastics across the Caribbean Sea and found as many as 200,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer in the northeastern Caribbean, according to the report.
Sneak Peek: a new observatory for water and sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean
Three years into the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) era, the Latin America and 
Caribbean (LAC) region is “on track to achieve universal access by 2030,” according to the 2018 UN SDG6 Synthesis Report 2018 on Water and Sanitation.
However, important challenges remain to reach SDG6 in LAC. Safe water and sanitation coverage levels are currently below the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets of achieving improved coverage levels. The statistical (coverage) or administrative information that LAC countries currently access fails to capture the new attributes of the SDGs, especially relating to the quality of services, wastewater treatment, and the adoption of hygiene practices, including hand washing. Moreover, the institutional arrangements along with diminishing sector investments cannot be adequately programmed with the type of information currently available.
Towards a water security assessment in Latin America and Caribbean
Water Security is the new buzzword in the water sector… but what does it mean, really?
And how is it applied to real life?
In a world of rapid changes, unequal water resources, polluted water bodies, growing demands, and increasing climate variability and climate change, our relationship with water is quickly shifting. 
For countries and governments, the term national water security means having adequate water, both in quantity and quality, to meet all demands of the population, the productive sectors and the environment, but also dealing well with extremes, and overall managing the resource adequately and efficiently.
What does Urban Resilience mean in the Eastern Caribbean context?
When you think of a city, what comes to your mind? Skyscrapers? Subways? Crowds of 
people jostling each other as they head to work? And what comes to mind when you think of an Eastern Caribbean island? Sun, sand, beaches paradise? Yet, Eastern Caribbean countries also have cities of thousands of people. In 2017, 35% of the Eastern Caribbean* population was urban: 221,000 out of 628,000 people lived in cities.
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Netherlands for the World Bank 
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