Director of CreditInfo Barbados, Grady Clarke, wants the Government of Barbados to file a suit against a World Bank affiliate for damages.
He made that suggestion after charging that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) kept Barbados off the World Bank’s list of countries to do business with between 2006 and 2012.
He said Barbados had missed many foreign direct investment opportunities which, in his opinion, had led the island into its current position as there were job losses and a downward trend of its foreign reserves.
“If we were not listed by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation as a place to do business between 2006 and 2012 when our other Caribbean nations were listed and ranked, then that means that the global investors will bypass our shores and the foreign direct investment that could have come here, would’ve gone elsewhere.
“I have real difficulty with the IFC, the World Bank being our advisor now, I personally would like to see the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and our Government working together to sue the IFC for the damages done by Barbados not being on the World Bank list,” Clarke said.
He was speaking to the Press yesterday on the sidelines of a seminar entitled Preparation Before Legislation at Accra Beach Hotel, where members of finance agencies and the Fair Trading Commission were all present.
The IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and it offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services and encourages private-sector development in developing countries.
Clarke, who ran the 26-year-old Caribbean Credit Bureau, said the seminar was organised to warn against the possibility of banks taking advantage of credit unions through updated legislation, which he said had occurred in other parts of the region.
“We believe that it is best to voluntarily adopt best practices from abroad as opposed to have them forced onto us by heavy-handed legislation. So this event here is to help people understand what is going on as it related to credit reporting and to learn and apply the good things and incorporate them into our practices and to be forewarned,” he added. (TG)
