I guess that the concerns that now pervade the developed countries also have to do with the recognition of the colossal re-balancing that is taking place in the world – a re-balancing that has meant a shift in the poles of global growth from the US and Europe and for a while Japan, to the new powers – China and India and the smaller economies in Asia along with one or two emerging market countries in Latin America, like Brazil and Chile.
The Caribbean, including us here in Trinidad and Tobago, has also had more than its share of bad news. Up the islands, tourism is sharply down and with unemployment in the US topping 10 per cent, workers’ remittances, which are an important source of foreign exchange receipts, for much of the region have plunged.