BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is predicting slower growth for Caribbean economies in 2008.

"We saw last year that Caribbean growth rates were somewhat lower than they were in 2006. We are talking about a movement away from an average of seven per cent for the region as a whole down to perhaps four per cent," director of economies at the CDB, Alan Slusher, said at the bank's annual review of regional economies Friday.

"We may see some further slowing during 2008 for the main drivers in Caribbean economies - tourism, construction, offshore services and demand derived from those kinds of activities."

However, while Slusher did not anticipate a significant slowing in the high end of tourism, he said there is bound to be some effect on the lower end, especially on travel coming out of the United States because of the continued uncertainty in that economy and the likelihood of a short recession during the early part of 2008.

Spending power strengthened

He said the weakening of the US dollar has strengthened the spending power of European visitors to the region leading to an increase in travellers from that region to the Caribbean.

"We are a relatively small destination tourism wise, so that while the tourism industry may suffer some overall global decline, the effect on Caribbean countries may not be as great," Slusher said.