YOU KNOW that our Caribbean region is heading for harder economic times not only by the gloomy assessments from reputable sources, such as The Economist Intelligence Unit; or Standard & Poor's, or analyses from the Inter-American Development Bank.

It is also from media headlines like, for example:

Venezuela In Recession: Venezuela's central bank said the country had sunk into recession for the first time in six years after the economy shrank 4.05 per cent in the third quarter this year.

Global Crisis Hits Trinidad Economy: Finance minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira has confirmed economic decline for 2009 that could end with the first "negative growth since 1993".

Those, incidentally, are two economies in our region that float on oil and natural gas and nations with which many CARICOM states have varying trade and economic relations critical to performance of their respective economies.

Standard & Poor's Changes Barbados' Status To Negative: Following a report in last SATURDAY SUN of this bad news from the international credit rating agency, there continue to be varying perspectives of its implications for a CARICOM state accustomed to enviable ratings. Just last Wednesday former Barbados Central Bank Governor Sir Courtney Blackman was urging "restraint in Government spending . . .".

Restraint? The unemployed and poor would ask. Sir Courtney's immediate past predecessor, Dr Marion Williams, was even more forthcoming in her recent assessments before making way for new Central Bank Governor Dr Delisle Worrell, on whose skills and expertise rest much hope during this difficult period of economic management.

As anxiety grows over the "waiting period" for economic recovery, Prime Minister David Thompson made clear to the House of Assembly this past Tuesday what would have come as a surprise for some. He has no plans to introduce any "fiscal stimulus package". This is something that has emerged as a sort of mantra in some CARICOM states, often without specific details by advocates.

For an economy heavily dependent on tourism and imports, Thompson has explained that some "76 cents of every dollar of the 'stimulus' would be spent on imports". His critics are left to argue otherwise if they disagree.

Jamaica's Burden Of Debt And Crime Are Unfixable: This recent gloomy assessment by Britain's weekly news magazine, The Economist, plus other factors, have pushed Prime Minister Bruce Golding to challenge the opposition People's National Party to a debate on the state of the economy it bequeathed after 18 and a half years of state power and the developments and performance over the past two years of his Labour Party's administration.

To that challenge, the Jamaica Gleaner volunteered this bit of editorial advice on Wednesday: Forget the debate; get on with the challenging job of economic recovery - "as difficult as we know it to be" - in the face of the prevailing global economic crisis.