‘It’s time we c that works f
-region’s latest Rhodes Sc needed to achieve sus
It was during his formative years, living and travelling through the Caribbean that Zubin Deyal’s love for its varied beauty and nuances developed and he recognised the improvements that sustainable development could yield for the region.
“I take great pride in being a child of the Caribbean,” Deyal, the latest Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholar and a self-described ‘Caribbean national’ told Sunday Stabroek in an interview. “The beauty of the countries in our region and the similarities of our cultures is something which should transcend all discrimination. We are one Caribbean and it is time we create a future that works for all of us, especially the next generation. For, in the end, if we are not for each other, then who will be?” he asked.
Deyal, 20, was born in Barbados to Guyanese journalist and Stabroek News columnist Indranie Deolall and Trinidadian journalist Tony Deyal. By the age of eight, he had already lived in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, and Antigua and Barbuda.
A research assistant at the Inter-American Development Bank, he recently obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Finance with first class honours from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus.
Having gained the coveted Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship, which will provide full funding for two years, enabling him to study at the prestigious University of Oxford, in England, Deyal plans to pursue two Master’s degrees— one in Economics for Development and the other in Financial Economics—to assist in designing policies that will encourage growth in the region and mobilise finances for this purpose.
It should be noted that while Deyal now feels passionately about the subjects of finance and economics, his love for those disciplines was only recently cultivated.
Deyal entered UWI at 16years-old, fresh out of the St Joseph Academy, in Antigua and Barbuda, where he had gained 16 subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination, with 13 grade ones and three grade twos.
“I had to push myself to overcome a registration error that prevented me from doing a degree in physics within a new environment replete with alcohol, partying, and drugs,” he explained.
The enthusiasm he now has for economics, finance, and service, Deyal said, came while he attended UWI. “Since I adjusted and settled on a degree in economics and finance, I have become engrossed by the concept of Caribbean development, which has been stifled by low growth economies, limited financing, and poor planning,” he said.
He believes that “welldesigned and coordinated policies are the key to solving these issues and achieving sustainability. In particular, strategies encouraging citizens trading stocks and bonds on regional markets would mobilise otherwise unused finances for development.”
Asked for his thoughts on managing Guyana’s expected oil revenues, Deyal said the “majority should be placed into a stabilisation fund, access to which should