Belize was the first in this region to do it - and now our sister CARICOM nation Barbados has floated its own blue bond. Like Belize, the island nation teamed up with the The Nature Conservancy to craft a debt for conservation deal that will allow the Government of Barbados to redirect a portion of its debt service payments into marine conservation funding.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley is quoted as saying, "Through this innovative debt conversion project, our Government will commit to protecting and effectively managing up to 30% of Barbados' waters. In short, this is a game changer." And while the structure of the deal is similar to Belize's one - the debt stock being re-financed is significantly different. Barbados is re-financing $150 million US dollars in debt, Belize did it with half a billion US dollars - which was the entirety of the Superbond debt stock.
