{"id":138157,"date":"2021-09-24T08:10:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T12:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=138157"},"modified":"2021-09-24T08:10:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T12:10:17","slug":"covid-19-pandemic-has-wrecked-our-economies-caricom-chairman-tells-global-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/covid-19-pandemic-has-wrecked-our-economies-caricom-chairman-tells-global-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked our economies, CARICOM chairman tells global summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s prime minister Gaston Browne said on Wednesday that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wrecked the economies of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping.<\/p>

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Browne, who is also the chairman of the 15-member CARICOM grouping, painted a bleak picture for participants in the virtual global COVID-19 summit organised by the United States.<\/p>\n

The CARICOM chairman said that in some Caribbean countries more than 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) was lost, unemployment had risen, poverty was expanded and demands on the state have multiplied, even as revenues have declined steeply.<\/p>

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He told the summit, taking place on the side-lines of the United Nations general assembly that recovery from the economic effects of COVID-19 will be protracted because hard won economic progress had been greatly reversed.<\/p>

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\u201cTherefore, building back will be longer and harder for CARICOM countries than it will be in larger economies with greater resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThousands of our people have been infected and thousands have died, many who had not yet begun to enjoy life, and others who had much to contribute.\u201d<\/p>

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Browne said the viral illness must be stopped and nations must act together to build a stronger, better and more prosperous world.<\/p>\n

He said CARICOM governments are committed to a global drive to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world\u2019s population by September 2022, including in CARICOM countries.<\/p>

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