SOCIAL SECTOR INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
23
SUSTAINING GROWTH, SECURING PROSPERITY
international and regional bodies, trade unions,
civil society, national human rights institutions
and other stakeholders.
The main goals were to provide capacity-
building opportunities for practitioners and civil
society, identify material issues on business
and human rights in the region, and identify
emerging innovative practices designed to
manage corporate impacts and enable equitable
development with a human rights approach.
4. CARICOM
• 34th Regular Meeting of the Conference of
Heads of Government of the CARICOM
The 34th Regular Meeting of the Conference
of Heads of Government of the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) was held at the Hilton
Trinidad Hotel and Conference Centre in Port-of
Spain,Trinidad andTobago during July 3-6, 2013.
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, led discussions
on critical issues affecting the region. These
issues included: membership and associate
membership of the Caribbean community; the
economic situation facing member States and
the region; transportation in the region; the
proposal for a high level meeting on persons
with disabilities and special needs; external
trade; and the state of the CARICOM reform
process. The meeting also coincided with the
commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the
establishment of CARICOM.
2.5 OUTLOOK FOR 2014
The short-term outlook for Latin America and
the Caribbean is threatened by a fragile and
uncertain external environment, consistently
high oil prices and capacity constraints in
select economies. The region is also once again
experiencing marked declines in commodity
prices and weaker capital flows
20
.
A 4% growth by 2014 in the Caribbean can be
attributable to improvements in labour markets
in the United States. The expected gradual
recovery in the United States bodes well for
Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Haiti;
countries that have strong industrial links to the
world’s largest economy. This growth would also
stimulate remittances and tourism to Central
America and the Caribbean.
However, risks to growth in the region have
decreased. Large fiscal deficits and public
debts in high-income countries and very liberal
monetary policies suggest that capital flows
will remain volatile over the next years, creating
challenges for the fine-tuning ofmacroeconomic
policies..
A sharp deterioration of conditions in the
Eurozone - is one of the main risks to the Latin
American and Caribbean economies in future
years. In such a scenario, global demand could
drop significantly and commodity prices,
remittances, tourism, finance and consumer
and business confidence could - be negatively
affected, potentially causing regional output
to decline relative to baseline by close to 4%.
Countries that have fewer macroeconomic
buffers could be particularly vulnerable in the
face of a significant weakening in global demand.
20 World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013. Global
Outlook, December 2012.
CHAPTER 2: THE CARIBBEAN SOCIAL SITUATION
