Private sector can lessen COVID-19 effects in the Caribbean—official

Jobs should shift from tourism to in-demand sectors

Tourism-based economies in the Caribbean can be salvaged from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.

This is what the founder and chief investment officer of Wincrest Capital Ltd, Barbara Ann Bernard, shared in her recent article at the World Economic Forum website. To her, governments have to consider the help of the private sector.

Caribbean countries heavily-reliant on tourism, such as Barbados, Belize and the Bahamas, are among the “most exposed in the world to the sudden pause in global tourism” and “have limited social safety nets.”

In fact, Bernard pointed out, S&P expects that tourism in the Caribbean will decline by 60-70% from April to December compared with last year.

What’s more, due to the COVID-19, the ratings agency downgraded the Bahamas and Belize this month further to junk status. Credit outlooks in Aruba, Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica to lowered to a negative.

“Tourist-dependent economies need to create thousands of jobs for furloughed tourism-sector workers,” Bernard said.

As of today, the Caribbean region has almost 14,000 COVID-19 cases as of May 5. Various islands in the region have already sought the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to keep things afloat.

How to diversify from tourism

Bernard proposed a plan that would allow the private sector to work with the government in conquering the unemployment war without any additional investment.

“In order to open our economies, we will need the equivalent of a small army of workers to carry out health tasks,” she wrote in the article. This includes a workforce dedicated to testing, temperature checks, and contact tracing. There is also a needed group for the sterilization that will be necessary in businesses and public spaces.

Bernard also suggested that governments may want to strike a deal with high-traffic business about reopening.

Grocery stores, home improvement stores, retail banks, malls, large office buildings, ferry companies, gyms, etc. may reopen if they hire the “repurposed tourism sector as COVID cleaners and temperature-checkers” at a fixed hourly rate.

“Governments could make it clear that this is a temporary measure that will be in place until COVID-19 is under control and hotels are reopened,” Bernard concluded.