Anton Edmunds | Unlocking private investment for a stronger Caribbean future

The Caribbean stands at a pivotal moment. Across the region, countries are making impressive strides in economic reform, debt management, and climate resilience. Yet, the path to sustainable development remains steep, marked by persistent challenges – climate vulnerability, limited fiscal space, and uneven access to opportunities. With an average growth rate of around 2.5 per cent over the past 15 years, economists have warned that the region’s capacity to contain and ultimately reduce levels of poverty need a boost.

To meet these challenges, there is need for us to think bigger and act together. The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) launched ONE Caribbean, a regional programme that aims to promote sustainable development in the region and unlock public and private investment across key sectors. The initiative works across four core pillars: climate resilience and adaptation and disaster-risk management, citizen security, private-sector development, and food security, with strengthening institutions and leveraging digital transformation as cross-cutting priorities.

ONE Caribbean directly supports The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, and, indirectly, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States countries, through the IDB’s partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank. The programme is designed to employ a multisectoral, interdisciplinary, and fully integrated approach to catalysing significant streams of public- and private-sector investment across the region, through innovative tools, targeted investments, and strengthened regional cooperation.

But ambition alone is not enough. According to IDB Group calculations, investment needs for ONE Caribbean countries in water and sanitation, energy, transportation, and telecommunications total US$21.5 billion. What is needed is faster, deeper, and more diverse economic growth. Private-sector involvement is also critical to meeting these challenges. Despite investor interest, too many promising ideas stall due to weak enabling environments, limited technical capacity, and fragmented planning. The result? The Caribbean continues to lag other regions in attracting development financing, especially from private sources.

To overcome these barriers and unlock private capital, the IDB is introducing the Project Preparation Coordination Mechanism, a new service under the ONE Caribbean umbrella. The PPCM is designed to help governments, state-owned enterprises, and private-sector partners across the region identify, structure, and advance high-impact projects that can attract financing and deliver real results.

This is about building a pipeline of bankable projects that reflect the region’s priorities and are ready to move from concept to construction. The PPCM will support everything from early feasibility studies to legal structuring and investment matchmaking – drawing on the full technical expertise of the IDB Group and our partners.

And we started in Jamaica, where on July 28, we launched the PPCM in Kingston, followed by engagements at the Caribbean Investment Forum in Montego Bay. These events are more than just announcements; they are invitations. We want to work with ministries, businesses, and regional institutions to turn ideas into transformative investments.

The public sector cannot do it alone. By working together – across borders, sectors, and institutions – we can build a more resilient, inclusive, and prosperous Caribbean.

Anton Edmunds, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) General Manager for the Caribbean. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.