{"id":487209,"date":"2026-03-21T07:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487209\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T07:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:01:16","slug":"richards-bermudas-economy-like-chalk-and-cheese-with-caricom-the-royal-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487209\/","title":{"rendered":"Richards: Bermuda\u2019s economy like \u2018chalk and cheese\u2019 with Caricom – The Royal Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bob Richards, the former finance minister and deputy premier (File photograph by Akil Simmons)<\/p>\n

Bermuda\u2019s ambitions<\/a> for full membership in the Caribbean Community may come with an emotional appeal based on shared cultural links \u2014 but the gulf between their economies makes a closer alliance akin to \u201ca square peg in a round hole\u201d, a former finance minister says.<\/p>\n

Bob Richards, who was also deputy premier under the One Bermuda Alliance administration, said: \u201cBecoming part of a group of small nations whose economies are fundamentally different from ours and who have significant issues with our major trading partner, the USA, is not in Bermuda\u2019s best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments drew comeback<\/a> from Alexa Lightbourne, the Minister of Home Affairs, who insisted that while the former finance minister\u2019s opinion was acknowledged, \u201cseveral of his claims are directly contradicted by the factual record\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Richards maintained earlier that \u201cCaricom was not created for an economy like ours, therefore it does not fit\u201d.<\/p>\n

In addition, he cited \u201cgeopolitical risks to Bermuda being associated with Caricom\u201d, noting the US State Department\u2019s ban on issuing visas to citizens of several member states.<\/p>\n

The announcement in January affected 75 countries, with the list including Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 75 countries where the US paused visa processing in January, with all but three Caricom members on the list (File image)<\/p>\n

Mr Richards submitted an opinion article<\/a> on the topic to The Royal Gazette for today, after the March 9 publication of the Government\u2019s Green Paper<\/a> on the topic.<\/p>\n

The Green Paper outlines the island\u2019s links to the Caricom region and the potential benefits of moving from associate to full membership.<\/p>\n

Mr Richards opened by stating \u201cfrom the outset that my Caribbean roots are very strong\u201d \u2014 highlighting the proud heritage in British Guiana of his father<\/a>, Sir Edward Trenton Richards, the island\u2019s first premier.<\/p>\n

The retired politician added that his mother had links to Grand Turk, while his wife was born and raised in Barbados.<\/p>\n

\u201cThus, no one need make the case to me about Bermuda\u2019s strong ties with the Caribbean,\u201d Mr Richards said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Caricom Secretariat headquarters in Guyana (File photograph)<\/p>\n

However, he called the Green Paper\u2019s emphasis on a shared history and sense of identity as \u201cmatters of the heart, not the head\u201d \u2014 and said its \u201cglaring omission\u201d was its failure to acknowledge the island\u2019s heavy influences from the US, dating back to the establishment of military bases in 1940-42.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe radical divergence in economic development paths between Bermuda and the Caribbean has resulted in today\u2019s state of development in Bermuda being totally different from that of the southern islands, now represented by Caricom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Richards said only Cayman and the British Virgin Islands followed economic models similar to Bermuda\u2019s, courtesy of having \u201cshamelessly copied us\u201d.<\/p>\n

He argued that the massive American investment in Bermuda and the island\u2019s proximity to the US had taken Bermuda on a wholly different evolutionary path from Caricom members \u2014 whose economies he divided into those with and without oil.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cNone of the full members of Caricom feature the successful export of financial services like Bermuda \u2014 none.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Richards, who was first elected as an MP in 2007, served as finance minister from December 2012 until 2017, when he retired <\/a>after the OBA lost to the Progressive Labour Party in the General Election.<\/p>\n

His statement echoed remarks he made last year<\/a>, when he said Bermuda\u2019s associate membership in the community had been \u201crelatively harmless\u201d and recognised the cultural common ground, but added: \u201cFrom an economic standpoint, it doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exploring full membership was announced <\/a>in the 2023-24 Throne Speech, 20 years after the island moved to associate member status.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Government launched \u201ca public engagement campaign designed to support informed national dialogue on Bermuda\u2019s application for full membership\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the event of full membership, the island would retain control over its immigration policy, with no automatic free movement of labour.<\/p>\n

Mr Richards highlighted the disparity in GDP per capita as economic grounds for a poor fit with Caricom, saying the numbers put Bermuda and Cayman in \u201ca class by themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

He cited the island\u2019s investment-grade credit rating, while adding that only the Bahamas, out of all the major Caricom member states, had never had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for emergency assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line here is, financially, Bermuda has nothing in common with the member states of Caricom,\u201d Mr Richards, calling their economies \u201cas different as chalk and cheese\u201d.<\/p>\n

He noted the apparent \u201cnegative viewpoint\u201d in the US Government to the region as additionally unfavourable to the case for full membership.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cCosying up to a region that the US views negatively in not in our interests.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bob Richards, the former finance minister and deputy premier (File photograph by Akil Simmons) Bermuda\u2019s ambitions for full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[172598,84,172597,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-487209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-bob-richards","tag-business","tag-caricom","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}