SOEs under scrutiny again

The COVID-19 pandemic may have derailed Government’s plans to reform several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) but Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced her administration is resuming arrangements to restructure their operations.

In her 2022 Budgetary Proposals outlined on Monday in the House of Assembly, Mottley reminded that her administration in 2018 sought public input into which state entities should be closed, restructured, operated differently, or were absolutely critical public services that should be retained.

Furthermore, in her first Budget address since 2019, the Prime Minister cautioned that runaway expenditure by SOEs has created fiscal headaches for governments across the region and Barbados had to find a way to reduce its risk exposure to public companies.

As such, she said reform of SOEs would be addressed in earnest during the course of this year.

Some of those entities that have been put on warning by the Minister of Finance are the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC), Barbados Agricultural Development Marketing Corporation (BADMC), and the Barbados Agricultural Credit Trust, all within the Ministry of Agriculture.
“These affairs need to be reviewed after 30 years of institutional arrangements that now need to be put in proper context,” she added, hinting that

Government will also be reducing the level of subsidies it provides to the sugar industry.

The list of other targeted SOEs includes the National Housing Corporation, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, the Urban Development Commission, Rural Development Commission and the Transport Board. They will also be up for review before year-end.

The island’s main healthcare institution, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), which consumes much of the Government’s healthcare budget, will also come under the microscope.

According to Mottley: “The QEH must transition to an independent trust. I have spoken to the Minister about it and those plans were put on pause because of the pandemic . . .
[but] the restructuring of its operations and its capital needs must also be undertaken.

It was also disclosed that following the easing of COVID- 19 pandemic conditions, Government will again turn its attention to the public-private sector partnership (PPP) for the management of the Grantley Adams International Airport, which Mottley promised will also be completed by the next financial year.

The Prime Minister said she will be holding the boards of directors of SOEs responsible for their operation.

As her administration sought to rein in the expenditure of SOEs, several were shut down during the Barbados Labour Party’s first term in office. They included the Barbados Productivity Council, Kensington Oval Inc., Resolution Life Assurance Company, and the National Initiative for Service Excellence. (IMC1)