BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Oct 18, CMC – A new report by the World Bank has found that middle-income countries, including those in the Caribbean, are in a race against time to raise their income levels.
It said that while several have a goal of reaching high-income status, since the 1990s, only 34 of 108 had succeeded at the end of 2023.
Five of these countries, namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, St. Kitts- Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago,are in the Caribbean.
The new World Bank study provides the first comprehensive roadmap to enable developing countries to escape the “middle-income trap.”
Drawing on lessons of the past 50 years, the “World Development Report 2024: The Middle Income Trap,” finds that as countries grow wealthier, they usually hit a “trap” at about 10 per cent of annual United States gross domestic product (GDP) per person, which is the equivalent of US$8,000 .
(Details in Business section)
CMC/2024