Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has called on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to expand and tailor its lending instruments more effectively to address the unique vulnerabilities of Caribbean countries.
He was at the time addressing the 2026 Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IDB and IDB Invest in Asunción, Paraguay.
In his remarks, Dr. Singh said Caribbean nations remain among the most vulnerable in the world to natural disasters, external shocks, and global economic volatility, while at the same time facing limited access to financing and tight fiscal space.
He said the region needs more flexible financing tools, stronger private sector support, and more targeted interventions to address structural barriers to growth and resilience.
The minister also urged the bank to tailor its lending instruments to individual country contexts and to make greater use of local systems, arguing that this would strengthen ownership, efficiency, and long-term sustainability of development programmes.
Speaking as Chair of the Caribbean constituency, Dr. Singh said the decisions taken by the region, both individually and collectively, will shape whether Caribbean countries can transform shared challenges into opportunities for faster economic growth, increased regional trade, and greater investment in climate-resilient infrastructure.
He noted that the Caribbean welcomes the IDB’s new Disaster Risk Management Action Plan for 2026-2030, which focuses on prevention, preparedness, resilient recovery, and financial protection through tools such as contingent credit facilities, catastrophe insurance, and climate-resilient financing.
Singh said such measures will be critical in helping Caribbean countries improve fiscal resilience and prepare for future shocks.
Turning to Guyana, Singh highlighted increased approvals and net financial flows from the IDB Group, while underscoring the importance of policy-based lending, which he said Guyana has successfully used in areas such as justice reform, competitiveness, financial sector strengthening, and human services.
On private sector development, the finance minister said Guyana welcomes the expanding role of IDB Invest following its capitalization and looks forward to greater engagement in areas such as transport and energy infrastructure, productive diversification, competitiveness, trade, and regional integration.
He encouraged the institution to make wider use of instruments such as equity and local-currency financing to improve the bankability and scale of projects.
Singh also welcomed IDB Lab’s continued focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and scalable private sector solutions, saying these are essential to Guyana’s push for economic diversification and long-term resilience.
He ended by reaffirming Guyana’s support for the IDB Group and its reform agenda, expressing confidence that the bank will become an even stronger and more responsive development partner for the region.
Dr. Singh is being accompanied in Paraguay by the IDB Caribbean Office Executive Director, Navita Ramroop; the Director of Projects, Bernard Lord; and the Senior Economic and Financial Analyst, Ronette Hetsberger.
