Half a Dozen Caribbean Nations Likely to Join Caricom

Six Caribbean countries that had refused to join a regional trade bloc were likely to sign up in late June after receiving promises of aid to offset losses to their economies, officials said Thursday.

The islands of St. Kitts, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada and Antigua had resisted coming on board, concerned that the single market´s ending of import taxes in the free trade area would hurt local industry and that they would be flooded by products from the bigger countries in the region.

Finance officials have recently finalized plans for a $250 million development fund to help the smaller countries, a condition they had set for joining the Caribbean Single Market, said Patrick Manning, chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community.

In January, Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados launched the single market, which was designed to facilitate the movement of goods, services and certain categories of workers between members of the trade bloc.