BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Wednesday announced that it had postponed to next month, its annual news conference where it was expected to outline recommendations on how it intended to harness regional and international alliances to broker new partnerships for holistic and inclusive development.
The news conference was originally scheduled for Tuesday next week, but the one paragraph statement announcing the postponement to Feb. 20, gave no reason.
The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) has been reliably informed that senior officials of the region’s premier financial institution have been sent on administrative leave.
When it announced the scheduled news conference earlier this month, the CDB said that it would be held under the theme “Facilitating Resilient Prosperity” at its headquarters in Wildey, on the outskirts of the capital.
It said the participants would have been its President, Dr Hyginus “Gene” Leon, the Vice President Finances and Corporate Services, Gregory N. Hill, the director of the Projects Department, Therese Turner Jones and the Director of the Economic Department, Ian Durant.
The statement had informed local and regional journalists that they could expect an overview of CDB’s strategies for resource mobilisation, a review of 2023 regional economic performance and the forecast for 2024 as well as results of the CDB-supported projects implemented in 2023
It said that a preview of planned projects, rationale and expected outcomes for 2024 would have also been made during the news conference.
Journalists were also invited to schedule one-on-one interviews with the CDB presenters, which would have taken place immediately following the news conference that would have been broadcast on the bank’s various social media platforms.