Distressed Caribbean Countries Face a Dilemma: They’re Too Rich
- Eight nations in the Americas qualify for debt relief plan
- The region’s most distressed sovereigns don’t fit the criteria
Careenage harbor in Bridgetown, the capital city of Barbados.
Photographer: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
For Caribbean nations such as Suriname, Belize and Barbados, the pandemic hasn’t just shut down local economies. It’s also led some investors to worry about how they’ll repay their bonds.
Unlike eight regional nations including Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua that may qualify for a global debt relief initiative backed by the Group of 20, average incomes of the three make them ineligible. In other words, they’re too rich.