IT’S AN IDEA that was outlined in Brooklyn two years ago to Barbados’ leader, David Thompson, and several CARICOM heads of government by New York City’s chief fiscal watchdog at the time.The plan: a Caribbean Development and Investment Fund of about US$30 million that would draw on New York pension funds and the money would be invested in profitable ventures in the Caribbean – specifically Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti, St Kitts-Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago.No, John Liu, the city’s new comptroller who has fiduciary responsibility for investing several billion dollars of city pension funds, says he wants to study the proposal because it is a good idea.“The pension investments are governed by five respective boards of trustees for each of those funds,” Liu explained. Changes“The chief investment officer in the bureau of asset management has been reviewing the entire portfolio for performance and I know some changes are being made with regard to fund managers. “But the concept of finding investment opportunities in the Caribbean has not changed and we are always looking for global initiatives. “I believe there is a tremendous amount of potential [for] development in the Caribbean and we could reap a reward for our pensioners through our investments [there] and at the same time facilitate development in that part of the world.”Liu – who assumed duties in January, succeeding William “Bill” Thompson who first made the case for the Caribbean fund – said that the city and its pension funds should seek to benefit from the development now underway in the various island-nations and coastal states in order to boost pension fund returns.“We have seen what has happened in Haiti, and that necessitates world attention to the process of rebuilding that nation,”the comptroller told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY in New York. “There are developments in other parts of the Caribbean where a tremendous amount of development is taking place. Not only can further economic development opportunities arise that would benefit the people in those respective parts of the Caribbean, but there is potential to reap returns for our pensioners in New York.”The idea of creating a Caribbean investment fund was first outlined BY Thompson, who had set the wheels in motion back in 2007 to study the financial feasibility of such an initiative. He first announced it at the Caribbean Business Conference in Antigua and talked about it when he addressed Caribbean leaders at a 2008 luncheon in Brooklyn, New York. Back then, “Bill” Thompson spoke of the benefits to pensioners and the islands and coastal states in the English-, French- and Spanish-speaking areas of the region.“It’s something we are exploring,” said Thompson, the grandson of West Indians from St Kitts-Nevis.But the plan was put on the back burner when Thompson mounted an unsuccessful run for mayor last year and came within 50 000 votes of unseating billionaire incumbent Michael Bloomberg at city hall.Now, has indicated he too is thinking about it.Should he make the move, he can expect the support of veteran city council lawmaker Charles Barron and a freshman at city hall, Jumaane Williams, both of whom said the idea of a fund should be explored by the comptroller and pension fund managers. “It would take time to study and to implement but I think it is something that should be undertaken,” said Williams, the son of Grenadians. “We in the city have invested our pension funds in various parts of the world and the Caribbean region, noted for its stability, adherence to the rule of law and commitment to the role of the private sector in economic development, is just as good a region for investment as other places where we have already put our funds. I’m all for it.”Barron, a representative of Brooklyn’s East New York where thousands of West Indians live, agreed.“I am very supportive of the idea,” he said. “If we can invest pension funds in Europe, the Middle East, including Israel, Asia and different parts of the world, then it stands to reason we can do so in the Caribbean and Africa. “They are viable regions which can benefit from investment of pension funds and which can bring returns to the city. The Caribbean and Africa shouldn’t be considered off-limits for investments.”StrategyBut apart from the proposed Caribbean development fund, Barron has called for the establishment of what he called “a Dr Martin Luther King Jr or a Malcolm X development strategy” for the Caribbean and Africa that would be similar to the Marshall plan undertaken immediately after the Second World War to rebuild Europe, especially Germany, which suffered extensive damage from allied bombings and invasions that toppled the Third Reich.“If we can finance a Marshall Plan for Europe, then we can have a development strategy for the Caribbean and Africa,” said Barron. “President Barack Obama should have a development programme for the Caribbean and Africa.”Dr Roy Hastick, a Grenadian who heads the 25-year-old Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is backing the plans for the fund and has urged Liu to study its financial feasibility.
