Caribbean Development Bank News Release — December 18, 2021, Bridgetown, Barbados
One of the Caribbean’s longest-running poverty reduction programmes, the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), launched its tenth cycle this week, with over US$47 million committed to supporting projects in nine countries across the region. Already, 123 sub-projects are in the pipeline for this cycle of the BNTF, which will run until December 31, 2024. Contributors to CDB’s Special Development Fund approved US$40 million, with the remainder coming from the participating countries: Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.
Speaking at the launch, President of the Bank Dr Gene Leon urged development actors to explore how programmes like the BNTF can be expanded and retrofitted to meet the changing needs of the region: “Enhancing the development impact is more than doing what we are currently doing and doing it better. It is about questioning our targets to make sure that we are providing the best use of every development dollar.”
Grenada’s Minister of Finance Hon. Gregory Bowen noted: “The continuance of the BNTF programme during the difficult periods of structural adjustment, fiscal restraints and weak growth continues today during the COVID-19 pandemic. BNTF cycle 10 is timely and an opportunity for addressing poverty in our territories. Over the past four decades, interventions have provided access to improved social infrastructure including markets, health posts, resource centres and schools, provided first time access to potable water, improved roads, bridges and foot paths, and provided certified skills training. BNTF projects have impacted us all — nationally and most importantly, our people at the grassroots level.”