UWI students engage IMF leadership
June 8, 2022
Deputy Principal of the campus, Professor Winston Moore sees the event as an excellent occasion for students to be exposed to the international financial institution beyond what they may have read or seen in the media.
“A lot has been written about the role that the IMF has played in the development of Caribbean societies, primarily through its structural adjustment programmes over the years. The relationship between the IMF and the Caribbean, however, has been evolving in recent years with the Fund helping countries recover from major natural disasters. This engagement with the managing director of the IMF provides students with a rare opportunity to engage with one of the leaders in global finance and discuss the future of IMF involvement in the Caribbean,” Moore said.
Economist Dr Simon Naitram, a lecturer in Economics at Cave Hill and who will serve as moderator at the event, also describes it as “a rare opportunity” for UWI students to directly engage with the leadership of one of the world’s foremost economic institutions.
“As the IMF is in the business of tackling global challenges, we hope that this conversation can inspire our students to think about how they themselves can be genuine world-changers,” Naitram shared.
Georgieva, who is visiting the Caribbean during June 15-18, 2022, expressed her interest to meet with students of The UWI – “the future leaders of the Caribbean”– to discuss the IMF’s evolving partnership in the region, while she is in Barbados on June 16.
In addition to a select group of students who will take part in the face-to-face session, hundreds more will be able to witness and participate online as the event will be streamed via UWItv Global and the IMF’s live stream channels.
In May this year, an IMF team led by Mission Chief Bert van Selm conducted a staff visit to the island at the request of the Government of Barbados. During the visit, the team discussed the implementation of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan, supported by the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The IMF team later reached a staff level agreement with the Barbadian authorities on the seventh and final review of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation programme (BERT) supported by the Extended Fund Facility. According to a press release of the international financial institution issued May 13, 2022, the team eventually concluded that “Despite a challenging global economic environment, Barbados continues to make good progress in implementing its ambitious economic reform programme.”
