CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT II

This final evaluation covers the period up to 4/80. No methodology is specified. The A.I.D. loan contributed to the funding of 47 sub-loan projects covering such areas as tourism, infrastructure development, industrial estates, small industrial credit, and agriculture. At the goal level, the project paper did not specify any goals or identifiable project indicators. Without indicators, an overall evaluation of this completed project is not recommended. Nevertheless, two evaluations which focused on certain project activities and institutions under the loan were conducted. The first review published on 2/79 by A.I.D. contractors, centered on the activities of the Development Finance Corp. (DFC). CDB sub-loans to the DFC accounted for 51% of the A.I.D. loan total, yet these loans accomplished very little. The DFC"s rarely applied sound financial and economic critieria to their programs and did not keep proper records, which made it impossible to evaluate the impact of some of their projects. One of their principal objectives, employment generation, did not reach expectations. The second evaluation was conducted by another A.I.D. contractor concerning Industrial Estate loans and was published on 5/79. This type of loan accounted for 32% of the projects that were financed under the A.I.D. loan. According to the authors, the economic contribution of these projects was impressive. The small industries that were involved were highly labor intensive and the public investment in estates generated private investment. Of the eleven estates reviewed, private investment in machinery and equipment versus public investment in developing the estates was almost 1.5 to 1.0. The industries evaluated generated 1.5% of the total GDP of the five countries involved. Both of the above evaluations resulted in recommendations to improve industrial estate and DFC manageament operations. Those recommendations are not recorded in this document.