The Tribune

CARIBBEAN officials gathered at the Baha Mar Resort Convention Centre yesterday for the opening ceremony of the 32nd meeting of the Heads of the CARICOM Social Security Organization.

The event, themed “Promoting Financial Sustainability of Caribbean Social Security Systems”, featured Alvaro Velaraca Hernandez, Secretary General of the Inter-American Conference of Social Security (CISS), who emphasised the topic’s signi cance for the Caribbean and all social security systems on the continent.

“Financial sustainability is probably the biggest challenge we all face in this mission, among others, such as population ageing or new forms of work or the growing needs for coverage and service quality,” he said. “This is why collaboration between our organisations is more essential than ever. This space provides us with an opportunity to work together, exchange experiences, learn from our strengths and jointly address our challenges.”

National Insurance Minister Alfred Sears said the increase in contribution rates in social security systems alone is insufficient.

“The sustainability depends on innovative, sustainable strategies that go beyond the traditional measures,” she said. “Therefore, our theme promoting  nancial sus- tainability of social security systems is so timely. As we gather this week, I chal- lenge each of us to confront the very real factors shaping our shared future.”

“Our region is experiencing significant demographic shifts with ageing populations and declining birth rates, resulting in fewer people entering the workforce. Additionally, migration and immigration trends create both opportunities and chal- lenges, calling for policies that encourage legal participation in the national insurance schemes. These dynamics are reshaping the very foundation of our social security frameworks, creating new pressures on our system.”

He said The Bahamas lost a third of its GDP due to the damages that occurred during Hurricane Dorian. Mr Sears said the stability that was obtained was due in great measure to NIB.

Philip McKenzie, NIB chairman, told reporters the board can meet their obligations and begin cracking down on employees who have not been paying NIB contributions.

Education Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin, speaking on the prime minister’s behalf, said the government has been maintaining levels of coverage, but it comes at a cost.

“A cost that we must now adapt to and mitigate by embracing modern innovations and advances in efficiencies, as well as by adjusting our contribution models,” she said. “No doubt, the issues we face are familiar ones to everyone gathered here today.”

International Labour Organization (ILO) Caribbean Office director Dr Joni Musabayana discussed improvements in social protection.

“According to the latest data from the ILOs International World Social Protection report of 2024 to 2026, we observe that for the  rst time, over half of the global population, 52.4 percent, bene ts from various forms of social protection, marking a significant improvement from the 42.8 percent that we had in 2015,” she said.

He added: “The positive news is that the Caribbean region, at a general level, has seen some progress with the expansion of social protection from 45 percent of the population covered by some form of protection today, compared to 26 percent in 2015. However, this global figure marks some marked disparities.”

“This is largely driven by large populations in for example, Dominica and Cuba. For CARICOM, in particular, in 2016, the coverage was 20 percent. Now, almost eight years later, the coverage has increased to a lowly 23 percent, and this really is our challenge.”