Regional leaders have been called upon to seize opportunities presented by trade services and bolster the sector financially.
The appeal came yesterday by Minister of State in Foreign Trade and Business, Sandra Husbands, as she delivered an address online at the opening of the inaugural Caribbean Services Exporters Symposium (CSES), organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI).
Encouraging colleague ministers, experts, practitioners and professionals in this realm, to make the effort, she said: “The linchpin to this vibrant sector on which our region’s economy has come to heavily rely on are micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Many of our service providers operate in this space. This must be acknowledged and celebrated because MSMEs, in large part, comprise a significant portion of our business community.”
Online participants were reminded by Minister Husbands that as catalysts for innovation and growth, the region’s MSMEs foster a diverse economic ecosystem that had proven its resilience to geopolitical shocks from around the globe.
Explaining further, she said it was particularly so over the last three years. She noted that trading services remained critical to growth in the region and was the fastest growing and largest factor within CARICOM. Likewise, she stressed the region had witnessed a remarkable resurgence of services exports in recent years, contributing substantially to CARICOM’s gross domestic product.
She remarked: “This has occurred despite having to navigate the dampening effect of COVID-19. According to the International Trade Center’s trade statistics for International Development, prior to COVID-19, CARICOM services exports increased by 7.86 per cent. This was in 2018 to 2019. Though the available figures between 2020 and 2022 are provisional, it illustrates that between 2019 and 2022, there has been some fluctuation in the region’s services exports pro forma. Now, between 2019 and 2020, this is at the earliest stages of the pandemic, the value of services exports declined by 56.65 per cent.”
Pointing out that this has had a tremendous impact on governments and their capacity to respond to the challenges of COVID-19, Ms. Husbands said, however, the services exports rebounded and increased by 29.46 per cent, between 2020 and 2021, and then again by 50.9 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
“This means that it has demonstrated that though they are vulnerabilities in light of the external shocks, it points to the fact that… it can be very resilient. And, this is indeed because of the quality of our entrepreneurs in the services spaces,” she said, while congratulating them for the tremendous recovery and noting it would have been difficult for member governments of the region to cope.
It was also noted that sectors like tourism and hospitality as well as financial services had emerged, over the years, as growth leaders, contributing immensely to the region’s GDP and this was due in no small part to the tireless efforts of MSMEs.
Minister Husbands, highlighting that the services platform is one of CARICOM’s economic operators that could be utilised to flourish and thrive, if given the requisite support, said: “I want to stress if we are going to be serious about putting services forward, it is imperative that we put financial resources behind differing services providers.”