Caribbean disaster reconstruction

Barbados secures a landmark IMF programme in October 2018, providing a credibility anchor for the island’s fiscal reform. As the Caribbean holiday tourism season peaks, Dominica marks 14 months of slow-but-steady reconstruction and Jamaica’s property market closes the year on strong footing.

The 2018 hurricane season draws to a close having largely spared the Caribbean, a merciful contrast to the catastrophe of 2017. Barbados’s IMF programme negotiations near conclusion as the Mottley government demonstrates fiscal commitment, and the winter tourism season opens with strong advance bookings.

One year after Hurricanes Irma and Maria reshaped the Caribbean, this edition surveys reconstruction progress, the transformation of the regional property insurance market, and how affected territories are translating disaster into a platform for resilient rebuilding.

Donald Trump’s election victory on November 8 sends ripples across the Caribbean as governments assess implications for remittances, diaspora communities, trade, and tourism. Meanwhile Matthew reconstruction proceeds and the holiday season opens with cautious optimism.

Hurricane Matthew devastates Haiti and strikes Jamaica and the Bahamas, leaving a trail of property destruction across the Caribbean. We assess the damage, the reconstruction challenge, and what the approaching US election may mean for the region.

Hurricane Matthew formed on 29 September and is rapidly intensifying toward Category 4–5 strength as this edition goes to press. The storm poses an imminent and severe threat to Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas. Caribbean property markets have delivered strong Q3 performance, but the next 72 hours may bring the region’s most serious storm test since Sandy in 2012.

COP21 is in session in Paris as the Caribbean watches the climate negotiations with acute urgency. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 later this month. Oil prices are near multi-year lows, the year-end Caribbean property market closes on a note of resilient optimism.

One month after Hurricane Joaquin, the Bahamas reconstruction effort is underway but the scale of the challenge is becoming clearer. T&T’s Rowley government unveils its economic programme amid falling oil prices, Caribbean tourism season opens strongly, and the world’s attention turns to Paris as COP21 approaches.

The PNM’s victory in Trinidad & Tobago’s 7 September election brings Dr Keith Rowley to power as Prime Minister at a moment of acute fiscal stress. In the final days of this coverage period, Hurricane Joaquin devastated the southern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 4 storm, triggering a major humanitarian and reconstruction crisis.

Puerto Rico and the Bahamas assess Hurricane Irene’s aftermath as the 2011-12 Caribbean tourism season opens strongly, with PM Golding leading Jamaica and T&T recording strong energy revenue.

The Caribbean assesses post-Irene recovery and opens the 2011-12 tourism season, with Jamaica still led by PM Bruce Golding and T&T recording strong energy revenues.

Hurricane Irene strikes Puerto Rico and the Bahamas in August 2011, prompting Caribbean property owners and insurers to reassess coastal resilience and coverage.

The Caribbean enjoys strong peak summer 2011 performance while meteorologists track intensifying Atlantic storm activity, with multiple systems developing in the basin.

Caribbean summer 2011 tourism performs well despite Eurozone debt crisis uncertainty as European visitor confidence wavers, while T&T leads regional investment growth.

NOAA forecasts an above-normal 2011 Atlantic hurricane season as Caribbean investors monitor storm risk, while regional investment momentum continues to build.