Will CARICOM countries be vulnerable to financial crises as a result of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) : the Cotonou Agreement?

Whether the EPA contains the seeds of potential financial crises in relation to the CARICOM countries, using the concepts of globalisation, volatility risk and hubris (of leadership, economic thought and a weak regulatory environment). This study seeks to establish whether financial crises may occur when the variables of globalisation, volatility risk and hubris within a weak regulatory environment coincide within the framework of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the ACP countries, (in particular the CARICOM countries) and the EU (the Cotonou Agreement). Ultimately it is the intention to assess whether there is any association between these factors to determine if when combined we can anticipate the likely occurrence of financial crises. A number of research hypotheses were derived from the review of the literature in Documents 2 and 3. The evidence presented in Document 4 did not support the null hypotheses and allowed us to conclude that there is a statistical association among globalisation, volatility risk and hubris. In conclusion, we explore the attitudes of key sectors with respect to the EPA economic framework and proffer that a likely combination of these three variables may contribute to the occurrence of financial crises. Furthermore it is the author’s contention that the Cotonou Agreement may contain the ingredients to usher in another financial crisis.