Debt and Neocolonialism in the Caribbean

In 2015, a prominent report on Jamaica's economy announced that "Jamaica has repaid more money ($19.8bn) than it has been lent ($18.5bn), yet the government still owed $7.8bn, as a result of huge interest payments. Government foreign debt payments ($1.2bn) are double the amount spent on education and health combined ($600m)."

However, Jamaica is far from alone. From Barbados to Haiti, Dominica to Puerto Rico, across the Caribbean governments are struggling with unsustainable debts - and have signed away their independence and responsibilities to their citizens in order access increasingly predatory loans.

Is debt simply colonialism reformed? If so, what alternatives exist for genuine independence to be achieved?

For our June instalment of the Groundings: In the Diaspora series, join the Caribbean Solidarity Network at A Different Booklist Cultural Centre and meet one of the region's most renowned economists, Dr. Michael Witter, of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, UWI (via Skupe), for a conversation about the role of debt as a form of necolonialism in the Caribbean.

This is a public event, open to all. It will be livestreamed on our page. Please share widely.