Cayman minister wants stronger backing for regional regulators

WESTERN BUREAU:

A Caymanian government official is urging Caribbean countries to provide stronger support to regulatory bodies, saying that underinvestment in these institutions could undermine the region’s development ambitions.

Speaking at the 20th Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OCCUR) Conference in Trelawny, Rolston Anglin, the minister of finance and economic development, education and training in the Cayman Islands, said governments must deepen their engagement with regulators and recognise their critical economic role.

“There are governments across our region that have not yet fully grasped the economic leverage that a well-resourced, technically capable, and independent regulator provides,” Anglin said.“If we are to underinvest in our regulators, we are to underinvest in ourselves.”

He argued that regulation plays a central role in shaping economic outcomes even if it often goes unnoticed.

“Regulation is, in the truest sense, the infrastructure behind infrastructure,” he said. “Take away the regulator, and very quickly you feel it – in water bills that spiral without accountability, in service that plummets, and in electricity tariffs that bear no relationship to cost.”

Anglin noted that Caribbean regulators are operating in increasingly complex conditions, describing it as a “perfect storm of small economies, climate vulnerability, fiscal pressures and technology that moves faster than our legislation can chase”.

Against that backdrop, Anglin urged regulators not to retreat from their responsibilities.

“The temptation in a storm is to shorten the sail and narrow the mandate, but I suggest just the opposite,” he said. “The difference between challenge and opportunity often comes down to whether our institutions are positioned to navigate with purpose.”

IMPLICATIONS

Anglin also stressed that regulatory decisions have far-reaching implications for citizens, particularly in essential services.

“For small island states, water is not an abstraction. It is a daily negotiation with geography, climate, and scarcity,” he said. “These are not technical questions. They are questions about equity, dignity, and resilience.”

On the region’s energy future, Anglin pointed to significant untapped potential but said progress depends on decisive regulatory action.

“The Caribbean sits on sunshine, on wind, on geothermal and hybrid potential, natural resources that are sovereign, renewable, and largely untapped at scale,” he said. “What is required now is the regulatory architecture to unlock investment, protect consumers, ensure grid stability, and attract the partnerships that can move from ambition to reality.”

He also underscored the importance of collaboration across the region, including in times of crisis, referencing support following Hurricane Melissa.

“Where one of us is struck, all of us must answer as one,” he said, while urging conference participants to ensure that discussions translate into tangible outcomes.

“I hope you leave with frameworks you can take home, relationships you can call on, and at least one idea that you did not arrive with,” he said. “That is what 20 years of this work deserves – meaning and implementation.”

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com