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The G7's proposed Global Minimum Corporation Tax - by Shineco Sutherland

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  “ G7 nations set minimum global corporate tax rate at 15 percent ” “ G7 finance ministers agree global minimum tax of at least 15% ” “ G7 agrees 'historic' global minimum corporate tax rate ”. These are a few of the headlines discussing the recent agreement by G7 members to mandate a minimum corporation tax  of 15% for the global political and trading economy. As I perused some of these articles, my initial though was – this has interesting dimensions to it but first, I must set aside my dismay at the audacity of a global ecosystem which implicitly cedes power to this sub-set of these powerful nations at the expense of the less powerful. Having successfully convinced myself to do this setting aside, I proceeded to think about some of the different elements of this agreement by the G7 including the membership of this group as well as the positive and negative implications for developing countries and the Caribbean specifically. If you are interested in these considerati...
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Of regionalism and multilateralism: Responses to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' volcanic eruption - by Shineco Sutherland

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So...some time has passed since I last visited this Blog😅. Well, here goes my attempt at reacquainting myself with writing.  If one were to do a search on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) at the moment, the results are more than likely to surround the ongoing eruption of its volcano, the La Soufriere. The volcano erupted explosively on the 9th of April, 2021 some 42 years after its last eruption in 1979. As someone currently living through the eruption, I can identify many different angles from which one can analyse its impacts and implications. Such angles can include food security; the psychological impacts on families and communities; the  multiplication of economic costs previously highlighted by other market shocks, including the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in the spirit of this blog, I settled on discussing the regionalism and multilateralism that are visible in the disaster response. In this context, regionalism refers to the relationships between countries in a ...
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Nearshoring and Intra-regional trade in CARICOM - by Shineco Sutherland

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  Nearshoring. That old concept which has attracted renewed focus and attention. In the present Covid-19 ravaged global economy, there is renewed discussions on this concept -  particularly for strategic industries such as food and medicine.  Given this, what exactly does the concept mean? What are its implications? What is the Caribbean context in this conversation? Stick around if you are interested in my responses to these questions. Nearshoring is where a country's imports or a company's purchases are sourced from geographically-closer suppliers. For example, if the Caribbean changes its supplier for medical equipment from those in the US to those in Barbados, it has engaged in nearshoring. The implications of this can include first, lower probabilities of disruption to supply chains. This is because shorter geographical distances generates lower possibilities of unexpected developments and a less complex transportation route. Second, changes in purchasing price. If ...
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SRC Trading thoughts, Reconsidering Strategic Trade Alliances for the Caribbean - by Shineco Sutherland

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  Introduction Caribbean news was recently abuzz with Barbados’ plan to remove the Queen as its Head of State, which would signal a severing of some of the last vestiges of its legislative colonial ties. In the aftermath of that announcement, some of the media in the Global North pounced on China as the instigator of this change, suggesting thereby that our own Caribbean leaders could not themselves be credited with such a move. As a budding trade professional, my thoughts pivoted to the underlying recognition of the importance of strategic relations, in particular, in matters of trade.   The result is this Shridath Ramphal Centre (SRC) Trading Thoughts which provides a snapshot of the Caribbean’s main trading relations, chronicles developments with some of their trade partners arising from COVID-19 and finally proposes recommendations for future trading relations and strategies. Brief Snapshot of Caribbean Trade A country or region’s trade profile is inherently embedd...
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Chronicles of CARICOM Countries: Guyana - by Shineco Sutherland

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  The totality of something is the sum of  all its constituent parts. In that vein, lets talk about one part of CARICOM - Guyana. Isn't Guyana such a fascinating country? 🤔🤔. I think that it is😁. It is replete with natural resources, situated in South America "on the doorsteps" of huge consumer markets (for eg. Brazil) but simultaneously it has a large diaspora and its currency is among the lowest valued in the region. Nowadays? Guyana seems to be on a newsworthy streak: the discovery of oil, election stand-offs and the recent liberalisation of its telecommunication sector. Stick around if you are interested in the unpacking of some of these issues. In relation to the discovery of oil in Guyana, a plethora of narratives abound. One publication  notes the new COVID-19 induced reality which has drastically reduced oil prices and dampened growth forecasts; others restarted discussions on the resource curse  which sees resource-rich countries continue to be plagued by...
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Blacklisting of a nation, some considerations - by Shineco Sutherland

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  Barbados is being blacklisted by the European Union (EU). As one publication puts it, Barbados failed to implement changes to its tax exchange framework over the required period of 2015 to 2018. The changes were instead implemented by December 2019, too late to avoid a rating of "partially compliant" by the Organisation for the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The EU subsequently added Barbados to its blacklist. There has been many public discussions since these development but what does any of this mean? If you are interested, stick around for a breakdown of the different components of this development. What is the OECD's role in this process and what is the significance of their rating? The OECD is an intergovernmental organisation with objectives such as facilitating global economic progress and trade. One route through which this is done is via setting standards to manage international tax evasion, of interest to this concept of blacklisting. The OECD c...
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Arrangements for the less developed in the Caribbean Regional Integration - by Shineco Sutherland

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  Fair warning, Covid-19 makes appearances in this article... it is just so pervasive that all my articles will make some reference to it, at least for the near future.   Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen many aspects of the regional mechanisms come into play. To name a few, the OECS joint procurement mechanism was used to procure medication for some CARICOM countries and the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has provided tremendous support to national health entities in areas such as testing and training. These are the new success stories for the Caribbean’s regional integration but of course the “old” stories are those such as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency or the University of the West Indies. Some regional integration stories, however, are those of special regional arrangements. Stick around if you are interested in reading about some of the provisions made available to CARICOM’s less developed countries (LDCs), which can be useful for th...
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