A SENIOR CARICOM official has warned that the escalating Middle East conflict poses a serious risk to the Caribbean’s food and economic security, despite the region’s geographic distance from the war. Speaking at a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) hybrid regional dialogue on Friday, CARICOM Assistant SecretaryGeneral Wendell Samuel said the Caribbean’s heavy reliance on imported food, fuel, fertilisers and shipping services makes it acutely vulnerable to global disruptions. He stressed that geopolitical tensions quickly filter into domestic economic problems. “Inflation, food affordability and fiscal stability are not abstract risks for us,” Samuel said. “They are immediate public policy concerns.” The conflict involving Israel, Iran and the United States has placed pressure on global energy, fertiliser and agrifood systems, particularly following Iran’s restrictions on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz—a critical maritime route. Under normal conditions, the strait channels about 20 million barrels of oil per day, roughly a quarter of global seaborne oil trade, as well as large volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilisers. FAO noted that the disruption has 4 THE FINANCIAL standing of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) is now under scrutiny following revelations that the teaching institution has a ballooning tax debt amounting to tens of billions of dollars. ACTING CHIEF executive officer of the UHWI, Eric Hosin, told members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday that the hospital owed Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) more than $40 billion in taxes. He said $18 billion of this amount is the principal sum owed and the balance represents interest and penalties. In an earlier appearance before the PAC, Hosin pointed out that one of the contracts flagged in the auditor general’s performance audit of the hospital was to produce an operation and turnaround plan to address concerns about the viability of the hospital “from a financial standpoint because at this moment it is not in the best of shape”. The consulting firm, William Pragmatic Limited, which was supposed to deliver its turnaround plan by the latest early 2025, only submitted a draft document in February this year, more than a year after receiving US$93,000 – or half of the money – to prepare the plan, and also one month after the auditor general flagged the issue. Lamenting the sum owed by the institution, committee member Lothan Cousins noted that ordinary Jamaicans are dragged before the courts by TAJ for their tax obligations while the UHWI owed this massive sum over an extended period. MAGNITUDE OF SUM OWED Placing the magnitude of the sum owed into context, committee chairman Julian Robinson quipped that the principal amount due was similar to the Government’s $18 billion new tax package for the current fiscal year. In a related matter, Hosin also admitted that the institution has been operating without its own tax compliance certificate (TCC) for several years. He said the UHWI, which now has a temporary TCC, has been using the certificate of its private wing for years. He told the committee that, since January of this year, the hospital has been importing items through the Ministry of Health and Wellness. “We recently received a temporary TCC because of the nature of our business and the urgency in terms of the medicines that we need to import into the island and the speed at which we need to get it in,” he added. Asked Robinson: “Given that you are not able to import items on your own behalf, would that give rise to the tax exempt status being provided to thirdparty companies to bring items in on behalf of the hospital?” However, Hosin declared that under no circumstance should the hospital use its tax exempt certificate to import items for any third party, not even a government ministry. “It must be solely for the use of the hospital and items purchased by the hospital,” he stressed. The UHWI had named four companies which the auditor general signalled benefitted from the misuse of the hospital’s tax exempt status to import goods into the country. The companies are Supreme Laundry Services, The Willman Sales Company Limited, Scientific Medical Services, and the JACDEN Group of Companies. A request from Chairman Julian Robinson was approved for the substantive CEO Fitzgerald Mitchell, former CEO Kevin Allen, and ex-board chairman Wayne Chai Chong to be summoned to the next meeting of the committee later this month. There is no evidence to signal that any of the former officials to be summoned is involved in wrongdoing. PAC grills UHWI over massive tax debt HOSIN Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Qlaileh, as seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. AP restricted trade flows, fuelling volatility in international energy and agricultural input markets. These shocks have translated into higher production costs, increased food prices and heightened food security risks worldwide, especially for import-dependent regions such as the Caribbean. CARICOM countries import more than 60 per cent of their food, with the regional food import bill reaching US$13.76 billion between 2018 and 2020—about five per cent of GDP. Samuel warned that rising food prices could worsen poverty and social instability. “The gravest risk is rising food insecurity,” he said, noting that even modest declines in real income can result in large increases in poverty and hunger. Samuel said CARICOM has developed a draft regional response matrix to address the projected fallout. The framework, to be presented to the region’s agriculture ministers, links external shocks to policy responses, outlining both immediate stabilisation measures and long-term structural reforms. Short-term actions could include targeted subsidies, cash transfers and school-feeding programmes to protect vulnerable households, although high public debt and limited fiscal space may constrain some governments. Emergency food assistance may also be required in certain contexts. However, Samuel stressed that longterm resilience depends on investment in climate-smart agriculture, productivity-enhancing technologies and strengthened regional food systems. To counter fertiliser disruption, he proposed prioritising strategic crops, promoting alternative inputs and diversifying supply sources, including exploring regional production. Shipping disruptions driven by higher freight rates, insurance costs and delays pose additional risks to CARICOM economies operating with limited storage and just-in-time import systems. Samuel said regional coordination on essential imports, along with regional shipping arrangements and strategic reserves, would be critical. He also highlighted the need to invest in renewable energy to reduce exposure to oil market volatility and to strengthen shock-responsive social protection systems. “A fragmented response will be insufficient,” Samuel said, urging collective action on procurement, logistics, strategic reserves, policy alignment and regional economic surveillance to safeguard food security and development gains. CARICOM WARNS OF FOOD SHOCK FROM MIDDLE EAST WAR THE WEEKLY GLEANER | APRIL 16 - MAY 14, 2026 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS
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