ESG & Investing

Hurricane Debt Relief Gets Test in Caribbean

  • Grenada meets with bondholders to discuss hurricane clause
  • The provision allows deferral of debt payments after disaster
Palm trees uprooted by Hurricane Beryl, in St. Patrick, Grenada, in July.Photographer: Haron Forteau/AP
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A Caribbean island’s suspended debt payments may offer a template for other nations hit by disasters, as the risks from climate change grow.

Grenada is acting as a test case, with officials set to meet bondholders on Friday to discuss its first use of a so-called hurricane clause. That’s enabled it to avoid making bond payments for the coming year in the wake of Hurricane Beryl in July. The clause was introduced in 2015 following a default, as the country struggled to recover from a series of devastating storms.