Barbados seeking to establish ‘green bank’

Barbados is to establish a green bank that will facilitate private investment in domestic low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure.

“We’ve started the discussions with them [officials of the Green Climate Fund] on the absolute necessity for a green bank, in order to be able to finance much of what has to be undertaken in adaptation for you as members of the private sector, as well as for householders who have now to prepare themselves for a new reality in the 2030s,” said Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

“It means having to plan … secure the funding and … afford the funding as you go forward,” she told the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Forum.

Mottley said she has asked Professor Avinash Persaud, the special envoy to the government on investment and financial services, to undertake this vital task and “to get the green bank going for the country, whether singularly or in partnership with existing or new entities that are about to come”.

“I think some of you may be aware, also, of significant work that is being done towards the establishment of a digital bank locally as well,” she added.

Several governments have in recent years established green banks as part of their efforts to facilitate private investment into domestic low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure.

Mottley said that these opportunities to provide access to finance were necessary, noting that without the required access, people would not be able to expand existing businesses or create new ones.

The PM said she has already spoken to the governor of the Central Bank, Cleviston Haynes, regarding banking fees, publicly thanking him for the initial efforts to deal with the high fees.

Earlier this week, the Barbados Central Bank announced it had intervened in the pricing of debit card transactions, following complaints from the public.

Mottley said banks were intended to be in the business of financial intermediation, adding “at the very time that we are asking you as a private sector and … Barbadians … to think outside of the box; it cannot be that we are going to sit idly by and allow persons to abandon their purpose of financial intermediation, and to go into the business of security”.

“I am not meaning to be offensive in any way, but I don’t know how many more times to say it, and therefore I have advised the governor of the central bank that, if we don’t get it right, then the government will legislate, because it is not fair to the people or the businesses in this nation. Everyone else has taken a hit in this going down,” she said.

CMC