04th
February 2012
Financial
institutions remain flush despite limited growth
As
banking institutions across the region become
more liquid each passing day, so does frustration
by small and medium sized businesses increase
proportionately. Larger businesses which remain
in a stronger bargaining situation are conservatively
cautious, as the return on investment remains
marginal in the short term and unpredictable
in the long term. It is a combination of these
two underlying factors which have placed a virtual
freeze on investment. The big question is, what
will the financial institutions do with the
billions of dollars of cash in their coffers?
Could these institutions simply decide to invest
their cash in countries which have a growth
rate of 5% plus and simply turn their backs
on countries which continue to wallow in the
0-1% bracket? This is a very scary situation
for governments, investors and job seekers and
the time has come when everyone needs to get
serious and decide on the way forward. Most
of the Caribbean region have become major importers
on borrowed funds while governments derive their
revenues on imported duties, income and other
related taxes, but this boils down to earning
money on increasing our debt on an annual basis.
|
