The Offshore Services Industry in the Caribbean: A Conceptual and Sub-regional Analysis

The proliferation of offshore centres in the Caribbean is providing recourse for the precipitate decline of national revenue and terms-of-trade for Caribbean primary commodity exporting nations. This is particularly the case in the Windward Islands, which have traditionally relied on banana exports. The article contends, therefore, that the development of offshore sector frameworks constitute deliberate public policy-making aimed at crafting a revised national development dynamic as well as economic diversification imperatives in the region. This represents an important shift in approaches to national development planning--especially amongst emerging offshore jurisdictions like Grenada and the Commonwealth of Dominica. This article maintains, however, that while Caribbean islands especially in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) sub-region are attempting to harness a strategic growth industry as a principal agent in national and subregional economic transformation, it is premature for OECS policy-makers to view the offshore sector as replacing the agricultural sector at least in the short- to medium-term. This argument is advanced through an explicit review of the offshore banking and international business companies (IBC) sub-sectors of Dominica's offshore services regime.