COFAP Appoints New Chairman to the CDF Board

The Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) has appointed Dr. LaCorbinière as Chairman of the Board of the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF). Dr. Bernard LaCorbinière, a national of Saint Lucia, brings to the Chairmanship a wealth of experience in the fields of Economics and Finance as well as the unique perspectives of the LDC’s which are the main beneficiaries of the CDF. Dr. LaCorbinière, who succeeds Dr. Shelton Nicholls, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, will Chair a nine person Board made up of two representatives each from the Member States of the Least Developed Countries and the More Developed Countries respectively, a representative each from the CARICOM and OECS Secretariats,

Barbados (as host) and the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC).

After an illustrious career in the public service of St. Lucia where he last served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance (1997-2002), Dr. LaCorbinière is currently a private consultant in economics and Advisor to the Government of St. Lucia. Dr. LaCorbinière has undertaken numerous consultancies related to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. He contributed to the early development of the requirements for a Regional Development Fund (RDF) established in Article 158 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas operational. The RDF was reconfigured and incorporated into the CARICOM Development Fund. Among his better known monographs on the subject was “Feasibility Assessment and Recommendations for Implementation of the proposed Regional (CARICOM) Development Fund (CDB; 2005)”

The new Chairman has a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics and a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science, both from the University of Kent. His Bachelorate of Science in Economics was received from the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill).