Shocks and Strategies: Jamaica and the Caribbean Development Bank

Ronald N. Harpelle is an assistant professor of history at Lakehead
University.

Shocks and Strategies is one of a series of short studies examining the
role of multilateral banks in the developing world. According to George
Reid, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) must change the focus of its
programs in the region in order to meet the challenges of development in
the 1990s. His study examines Jamaica’s relationship with the CDB in
the 1970s and 1980s and provides an overview of the Jamaican
government’s recent efforts to direct the development of the economy
as well as the role of the CDB as a lending institution in the region.

Reid also examines conflicts of interest arising between the government
and the bank. The most significant problem concerns the CDB’s focus on
directed credit projects at the expense of infrastructural projects.
According to Reid, the bank’s preference for investments that pay for
themselves in the short term over those that involve a higher degree of
risk but that offer a long-term potential for development directly
undermines efforts to promote economically and ecologically sustainable
growth in Jamaica. Unfortunately, the author does not offer examples of
projects that the CDB and Jamaican government could, or should,
undertake. His book requires on the part of readers a thorough knowledge
of development issues in the Caribbean region.