CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

with Barbados, followed by Antigua and Barbuda holding the top two (2) export positions, by value. However, on the basis of positive RRCA indices from 1.72 to 14.69, the proportion of those services in Guyana’s total exports to the UK was far greater than what obtained for Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda, allowing it to be adjudged as the dominant exporter within the sector. Furthermore, on the basis of those indices, Guyana was also by far the most competitive player in that export segment with the UK, by comparison with nearest rivals Antigua and Barbuda, then Barbados. Trinidad and Tobago, however, registered the strongest overall RRCA indicators during the period 2017 to 2019, returning indices of 22.22, 25.03 and 28.4, suggesting that it was between 22 to 28 times more competitive than other CARIFORUM States combined at exporting Insurance and Pension services to the UK during those last three years, and signalling in the process the development of a potential growth industry for that country. As it relates to Financial services , a surprise entrant – Guyana, which is not known for having a strong financial services export sector, is adjudged to be the comparatively more dominant exporter of such services to the UK, among CARIFORUM competitors, with the sole exception of 2019, in which it was marginally overtaken by a fast rising Saint Kitts and Nevis, which produced indices between 5.36 to 13.7 over the period 2014 to 2019. Guyana, however, returned RRCA indices exceeding 7.84 in 2014 and as high as 24.17 in 2015, or three times the index for Saint Kitts and Nevis in that year. Guyana also enjoyed the highest competitive margins among its CARIFORUM partners, despite countries such as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica enjoying larger absolute values of financial services exports to the UK throughout the period. However, neither made the top five in terms of their estimated RRCA indicators, returning indices below a value of 2 in all but one instance - in the case of the DR, which exhibited a rising trend, as opposed to Jamaica for which the RRCA indicators declined overall during the period. This suggests that Jamaica is losing its competitive position in the export of financial services to the UK and, while the DR is gaining a small foothold, the UK is still apparently not a preferred destination for its financial services exports.

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