By Youri Kemp From Caribbean News Now

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released the Inclusive Development Index (IDI), 2018.

The report is predicated on the notion that even through economic growth and development, inequality and living standards for all have not necessarily grown with it. This, as the Executive Summary plots out, is a development challenge moving forward as it may lead to more economic instability and social tensions globally.

The Caribbean is noticeably absent from the report, except one, the Dominican Republic; which until recently was recognized as a standard, Spanish-speaking, Latin American country, despite not being on the South American continent, and which shares an island with Haiti in the Caribbean Sea.

None of the countries represented are from the traditional English- or French-speaking Caribbean countries, and the under-representation leaps out at you when considering the fact nearly every speaker to attend the WEF 2018 took a business trip, vacation or has a second home in one of the Caribbean islands.

It almost seems laughably shocking that a report, from the “World Economic Forum”, would have an extensive study done on inequality no less, focusing on the need for more inclusion in that economic inclusion matrix and subsequent graphs, but the least of the countries in the world, hailing from small, developing states like those in the Caribbean, are not represented at all.

Caribbean countries suffer from weather related challenges; are prone to economic shocks that we do not have the fiscal space or financial capacity to weather at times; and we are at the whim and fancy of larger countries, who do not see our uniqueness in a nuanced manner, but rather from a top-down administrative standpoint — or, as in the case of the WEF, not at all, or too insignificant to be highlighted.

The report, while well written and does have its analytical fruit, sets out several different charts and formulas that rank developed market economies and what is classified as emerging market economies. The IDI is supposed to be a new method of economic measurement, one in which the authors of the report state that traditional measure of GDP is insufficient to capture true inequality and social/economic inclusion.

What would be fantastic, in all of this, at the World Economic Forum, while we may focus on what prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau has to say; while we may be focused on whether or not president of the USA, Donald Trump, would attend or not; while we may delve into climate change and its effects; some may even throw jeers on “tax-havens” and offshore banking; it may even turn into a social statement and factor in the #Metoo movement and other geo-political and/or socially acute issues, considering that this year’s guiding report in that of the IDI 2018 speaks about inclusion, from a “world” perspective, perhaps the least amongst us should be considered as a part of the process and analytical tracking!

The World Latin American Forum begins in March 2018. Maybe we can have some Caribbean representation there, perhaps?

The WEF Davos 2018 began on January 23 and ends on January 26.

IMAGE: Youri Aramin Kemp, BA, MSc., CFM, AFA, ChE, is and Associate Editor of Caribbean News Now and the CEO of KEMP GLOBAL, a management consultancy firm based in The Bahamas

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