The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) said Tuesday that Barbados continues to “make good progress” as Government continues efforts to revive the economy.
In a statement issued today following last week’s visit by the IMF team led by Bert Van Selm and yesterday’s talks with Prime Minister Mia Mottley in Washington , the financial body said the country had met all its December 31 targets under the Extended Fund Facility ( EFF).
Below is the full text of the IMF statement.
“Barbados continues to make good progress in implementing its ambitious and comprehensive economic reform program.
“All indicative targets for end-December under the EFF have been met. The program target for Net International Reserves was met by a wide margin, as was the target for the Central Bank of Barbados’ Net Domestic Assets (NDA). The target for the primary surplus for end-December 2018 was also met by a wide margin.
“Good progress has been made in implementing end-December 2018 structural benchmarks under the EFF. Two key pieces of legislation—the Public Financial Management Act, and the Town and Country Planning Act—were adopted in early 2019.
“Preparation of the budget for FY2019/20 targeting a primary surplus of 6 percent of GDP is well underway. Full year effects of reforms set in motion during the current (2018/19) fiscal year, including the introduction of several new taxes and ongoing streamlining of public sector work force at state-owned enterprises, should help achieve this target. A detailed assessment of the budget will be made when it is finalized.
“Progress being made by the authorities in furthering good-faith discussions with external creditors is welcome. Continuing open dialogue and sharing of information will remain important in concluding an orderly debt restructuring process.
“The team is looking forward to return to Barbados in May to conduct the discussions for the first review under the EFF and would like to thank the authorities and the technical team for their openness and candid discussions.”
Congratulations to Mia and all of her Ministers on making tough painful decisions that were necessary to avoid devaluation of the Barbados Dollar and the corresponding economic fallout causing the loss of 10,000.00 jobs with no future for Barbados. The mood is now slightly positive. Construction Projects that were shelved for the last 10 years and 3 months under the DLP are being reactivated. Foreign Investors are once again looking at doing business here. Once the cloud of uncertainty that is Brexit is lifted we will once again have a growing Economy. Keep up the good work and do not listen to the DLP yardfowls or those who are negative and offer nothing.
Tucked away nicely near the end of the report are the materials for the foundation upon which this shaky economic edifice is built: increase taxes and “streamlining” (job layoffs). I love the way how they word these things such as “streamlining.” Sounds so peaceful and dreamy that the Kumbaya song is dancing in my head.
The bottom line is that you will be having less money to spend (from increased taxes) and that is even if you still have a job (streamlining) and as a result there is less buying power and that leads to economic stagnation. Wait, they will solve the latter by borrowing more money from the IDB and other alphabet organizations to prop up this shaky building.
The apologists are going to say that the BLP has been in power for only 9 mths so give it time. At 9 mths a baby is due and so far I don’t see even any sign of economic pregnancy. Maybe momma is just bloated, and that’s probably true with all the bloated promises and talk that I’m hearing from the politicians that can afford the increased taxes and who definitely will not be “streamlined.”
Congratulations to Mia and all of her Ministers on making tough painful decisions. The mood is now slightly positive. Construction Projects that were shelved for the last 10 years and 3 months under the DLP are being reactivated. Foreign Investors are once again looking at doing business here. Once the cloud of uncertainty that is Brexit is lifted we will once again have a growing Economy. Keep up the good work and do not listen to the DLP yardfowls or those who are negative and offer nothng
Painful decisions like abolishing the early pension facility from the National Insurance Scheme at 60 years old. This is not only painful, this is so hard as to give someone a heart attack. So the NIS can no longer claim it is our lifeline, it has become a tax on our earnings. Yet still they could take up $5 million and give severance pay to retrenched employees of bankrupt statutory corporations who were not entitled to receive any severance. That was illegal and should have never taken place.
DLP naysayers who cannot even run a mauby stand being critical of the IMF statement on the excellent performance of BERT. Why should it upset anyone if the Barbados economy is said to be “on the right track”?
These are the same cellar ducks who praised and supported Chris Sinckler’s EIGHT failed Fiscal Adjustment & Development Strategies. LOL
The IMF are not feeling the pinch, I would say, it is time to ask the citizens how THEY feel….there lays the truth of the Barbados economy NOT those on the highest salaries that dont feel a thing !!
I think EVERYONE making the decisions have stopped thinking about the taxpayers !!
Gimme yah vote and see ,great job guys
I think that’s a good idea @Anthony, to hear/see what the average Barbadian citizen thinks about these austerity measures. A poll is in order.
If I were a betting man I would wager that the majority of people would be opposed to this bitter medicine that is forced down their throat, at least those to whom I speak.
The administrators of this medicine would naturally downplay if not ignore the people’s opinion, reassusing them that though bitter, “it’s good for you.”
As the old saying goes, “the surgery was a success but the patient died,”
Carl, those naysayers are the ones who were pushed off the DLP gravy train, that train is not going to be coming this way again in a very, very, very long time and they are very bitter individuals out there who are mad with this PM.
To name a few, Johnny, Carson, Pedipac and others who come on here to say some of the most nonsensical things and you hear them on Brasstacks being even more ridiculous.
Increased taxes and job layoffs. Still haven’t heard a response to that. Collateral damage?
In terms of how the DLP has handled the economic situation, [Verla] Depeiza said: “Sometimes the medicine is bitter like gall but it is the thing that kills the worm”.
How come the Dems “bitter” medicine is more acceptable than anybody else’s medicine when they sent home 3,500 public workers in 2014? NSRL, Consolidation Tax, Tipping Fee, Solid Waste Tax, tax on sugary drinks, VAT increased from 15% to 17.5%, 60% increase in water, bus fares from $1.50 to $2.00, 2% commission on foreign exchange transactions, removal of minimum savings interest rate of 2.5% (now 0.001%), tuition fees for UWI students, no pay raise for public workers in nine years.. And yuh know what? Barbados was not even under an IMF program!
Mike, do you know who are these “majority” of people that would be “opposed” to this medicine? Can’t be the same majority that kicked the DLP from Office. LOL
Have to agree with you, Mike. That “gravy train” ain’t coming the Dems way “in a very long, long, long time”. It must be very painful that the people shut every last one of dem out of Parliament for at least five years. Serve dem criminals right!
Carl Liz thompson you are one sick woman.
It’s so easy to look into the rear view mirror, point fingers, blame whomsoever and take your eyes off the road. But I guess if there isn’t much good news in the present, increased taxes and job layoffs in the future, the only alternative is to reach for the past.
After all the borrowing something had to be on track it is nothing they did
Good job prosecuting Carl. Can’t believe these people are angry over the country’s recovery. Mia and her crew are doing everything that the previous administration couldn’t get doe or refused to do.
No there is no more poop floating around on the streets of the south coast;the foreign exchange has adequate reserves; students can go to college no matter what their financial situation is; the economy is getting upgrades rather than constant down grades….. I think this is why we voted in this administration and threw out those wow were pocketing our tax money and giving nothing, not even the respect of speaking to us.
I would say the public is feeling like the country is in much better hands right about now.
The notion that Barbados is making good progress under the government’s BERT program is a bogus one and one that the purveyors of such a false notion would do well to not make in the face of the widespread evidence of:
1) the MASSIVE and CONTINUING failure of the government of Barbados to make
the GREATEST possible uses of money in its day to day affairs;
2) continues to
preside over a still
alarmingly high Cost Of Use Of Money/Credits regime;
3) the increasingly slowing Money Turn
Over Rate across the country;
4) the extremely
High Costs to the Receipts of a large cross section of
individuals, businesses and other entities of the Reproduction of Receipts to One Another.
Thus – BERT – which has had TAXATION
and deprivation of portions of the receipts of bond holders as amongst its core elements – has ENORMOUSLY failed to address and to resolve the above referred to 4 fundamental and destructive conditions.
Moreso, the political economy of Barbados could never be on the right track, with almost all the productive and commercial sectors in this country having performed so unsatisfactorily or
dismally last year.
What is worst is that the export sectors of this country are far, far from firing away on all cylinders!
Rudeboy wrote: “I would say the public is feeling like the country is in much better hands right about now.”
Do the poll/survey and it would be revealed that the vast majority of the cohorts (even Dems supporters) would agree that Barbados is in a better position (and “hands”) than it was one year ago…six years ago.
One policy measure introduced by this Administration that has “cuffufled” the Dems is the Fuel Tax and removal of the Road Tax. Today the price of gasoline is the exact same price of $3.60 per liter as it was just before the Tax took effect on July 1. And you know what? They do not have to pay the Road Tax. Man even that got them angry.
Under the DLP the price of gasoline rose 15% from March 2015 to May 2018, and everyone still had to pay the Road Tax each year. Not a word of complaint then from Dems yardfowls. Hope when they go to BRA now they volunteer to pay the tax.
Here is an extract from the Barbados Sustainable Recovery Plan 2017 that the Dems wanted to foist on the country had they been re-elected: “The pre-crisis steady state dictates that the economy grows on average at three per cent over the medium-term with adequate fiscal space and a solid foreign exchange buffer”.
The only pre-crisis time the economy grew at 3% was during the last BLP years. As a matter of fact, the last Central Bank report shows that under the Dems from 2008 to 2018, the economy recorded a -0.7% growth. Not a stellar performance to write home about at all.
The people elected the BLP, and the BLP passed authority of running the government, into the hands of the IMF. If the conservative group say jump, Mia will say “Yes sir, how high”.