President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Luis Alberto Moreno has said that rising food and oil prices are hitting the Caribbean more than any other region in the Western Hemisphere.

He made the comment during comments to the four-day 29th annual meeting of the Caricom heads of Government Conference which ended yesterday in Antigua and Barbuda.

According to IDB estimates, the average negative net impact of high oil and food prices on the trade balance for Caribbean countries, except Guyana and T&T, is 5.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to four per cent of GDP in the Central American countries.

“Oil and gas exporting Trinidad and Tobago is benefiting from higher fossil fuel prices, while in Guyana the negative impact of high oil prices is partially offset by higher export prices for commodities such as rice, bauxite and gold,” the IDB said.

IDB analyses show that the effects of high oil prices exceed those related to food in most of the Caribbean.

Moreno has offered regional leaders support from the IDB's Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) initiative, noting that Guyana is already making use of a grant related to biofuels.

He also stressed the importance of a partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to extend the benefits of IDB programmes in response to food and oil shocks to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

“This support will follow the grants already under preparation with the CDB for disaster risk mitigation and managing for results in the OECS” the IDB said.

Moreno added that the IDB and the CDB are studying ways of reducing food prices in the region through an in-depth assessment of cost structures—transport, logistics, taxes and tariffs—and options for strengthening regional food production clusters.

The two bodies are also designing a programme in support of private sector development and competitiveness in areas such as access to finance, trade facilitation and trade negotiation capacity, innovation and value chain integration.