The bill is still accumulating but for the region as a whole, the cost could be somewhere in the vicinity of 10–15 per cent of regional GDP. For all its negatives, the Clico crisis served as an important wake-up call to the region.
Coming on the heels of the global financial turmoil, it was a clear reminder of the need to strengthen our financial and regulatory systems, so that they could withstand exogenous shocks and it underscored the idea that a co-ordinated regional approach was needed.