"We cannot go ahead and have this idealistic view of the CSME. There will be winners and losers and it is clear as that and we have to adjust to it. But when you take everything overall, it would mean a growth in the region, more opportunities for people, greater skills and overall, we may be able to get greater benefits," he said.

The President made the call while delivering brief remarks at the XVIII Adlith Brown Memorial Lecture on Thursday afternoon at the Hotel Tower, Georgetown.

The lecture was delivered by President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Professor Compton Bourne under the theme "Foreign Exchange Rates: Again??"

The presentation was hosted by the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies and the Bank of Guyana as part of its XXXIV annual Monetary Studies Conference -'Challenges for Monetary and Exchange Rate Regimes in the Caribbean.'

The conference started on November 12 and concluded yesterday.

President Jagdeo said there is no evidence to show any exchange rate is superior to another in any given country and pointed to examples such as the Argentina currency board, which ultimately failed, and Brazil’s because of a loss of confidence.

He also said belonging to a Currency Union does not guarantee homogenous inflation and homogenous exchange rate, as these feature many other factors.

Featuring commonly in CARICOM meetings on the economy is whether inflation rate depreciation in one area can solve the problems of a country, the President, currently serving as CARICOM chairman, reported.

"There is the argument that if exchange rates depreciate there would be increased revenue in US dollars, and the cost would be lower, especially the domestic denominated cost such as wages, and that may help correct some of the imbalances they have in their budgets and some of the payment difficulties that they are experiencing.

"But on the other hand, and I can understand this and sometimes politics tries this, they would often look at what this would mean to people and sometimes they weigh costs that do not come necessarily from economic but from many political factors," the President added.

He said an exchange rate depreciation will definitely lead to high inflation because most of the products used are imported and this could lead to an overall welfare loss in the system. It is easier, he added, to deal politically with a few thousand public servants than to deal with an overall loss of welfare in a country.

Mr. Jagdeo pointed out that positive inflation figures may not be the only way of achieving positive yield because often time each contributory factor is dependent on something else.

The benefits for any country choosing a particular path may look good on paper but is not always realisable, the President said, adding that politicians tend to look more toward the more popular issues that attract the least discontent in their societies.

"So that if the region's exchange rate is affecting the competitiveness of its product, that reflects itself over a period in maybe lower investments and loss of markets, etc.," the Head of State pointed out.

He said too, that when deciding which system of exchange rate to be used in a country, the policymakers tend to look at these practical issues and decide what is best, given their economic system.

"Countries may have to decide on their own what is appropriate for their systems, what is politically viable within their countries and become fixated on how we can make our economic system work better. Exchange rate is just one factor," the President said.

He noted that there are other issues, which threaten the region's economies, including the democratic status of countries.

The annual Adlith Brown Memorial Lecture honours the memory of Dr. Adlith Brown, Coordinator of the then Regional Programme on Monetary Studies from 1980 to 1984. Each year an eminent scholar is invited to deliver the lecture in tribute to the life and work of Dr. Brown.

The 17th lecture was held in Belize last year and delivered by Professor Clive Thomas.