CREDIT UNIONS have had a major impact on the development of Barbados and its people over the last three decades, says Professor Frank Alleyne.
Delivering the 25th anniversary lecture of the University of the West Indies Co-operative Credit Union last Wednesday at the Henry Fraser Medical Sciences Lecture Theatre (Cave Hill), Alleyne said in order for a nation to be considered developed, people must be able to readily access funds from financial institutions.
He said too often there was a view that setting up high-rise buildings and large houses constituted development.
“I fundamentally disagree,”?Alleyne said. “In my view, and it is a view shared by the leading scholars in the development of economics, that the
acid test of development is about people. It is about the impact of whatever is happening in the economy with respect to improving the quality of life of the broad mass of the population. And that improvement has to be sustained and substantial.
“So when I speak about the impact of the credit union movement in Barbados on development, I must fashion it against the background of its impact in transforming the lives of the underclass in Barbados, the poor and lower-middle income; opening up opportunities for them to realise and actualise their full potential.”
Alleyne said since the introduction of the credit union movement in the late 1950s, many opportunities were created for low-income households and poor individuals who benefited tremendously from those financial institutions.
He said over the last three decades, the local commercial banking system was one to “dominate” access to funds in Barbados and “shut out” the poor and small business people who wanted to develop their businesses. And because of this, several businesses collapsed and others were not started.
“So the task of Government in the 1950s was to try and build an inclusive financial sector,” he added.
“That is why the credit union is so important. So I think I have made the point that as a Government and a people we have to continue to strive to develop a more inclusive financial sector and that is the importance of the credit union in Barbados because a credit union reaches out to everybody. It is like a case of whosoever will, may come,” said Alleyne. (MM)
