Caribbean countries are being advised to target tourists from China’s rapidly-growing middle class to help reduce the negative impact of that country’s rapid growth on Caribbean economies.

Speaking at a forum in Barbados on Globalisation and China organised by the Caribbean Development Bank, British Economist Linda Yueh warned that the rapid expansion of China’s economy would have a negative impact on the economies of Caribbean States and other developing countries.

China’s economy has been experiencing a growth rate of about nine per cent over the last three years, a rate that many economists describe as phenomenal.

According to Yueh, while some developing countries would benefit from this rapid growth by supplying China’s additional demand for goods and services, it would put pressure on other developing countries to compete.

Barbados Central Bank Economist Deny Lewis-Bynoe agreed with Yueh, and added that China’s rapid growth and the opportunities that have opened up there are “impacting on the amount of foreign direct investment (the Caribbean) is able to attract”.

Both Lewis-Bynoe and Yueh agreed that China’s rapid economic expansion tops the list of several challenges faced by developing countries that make it more difficult for small States to compete in a deregulated global market.

Yueh and other economists based in the Caribbean and abroad believe that tourism, a sector in which the Caribbean region has a distinct advantage, could be the most lucrative way for small developing Caribbean States to meet those challenges.