Husbands: Let home drums beat first in COVID-19 recovery

Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade today urged Barbadians to buy Bajan to aid pandemic recovery even as she noted the hundreds of millions the country earns from its trade with CARICOM.

As Parliament debated the Catastrophe Fund, MP for St James South Sandra Husbands, predicted that given its performance over the last two years, the economy will recover from the current downturn emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Husbands said the Catastrophe Fund will benefit Barbados once it is used to keep businesses afloat.

She said: “COVID-19 can push a major “reset” button for Barbados, and the businesses that will apply to it should use it as a means to strive for the common good.

“In that regard, they must remember that their survival will depend on the ability of other local companies to keep people employed.

“So I believe they should make buying local goods and services their first priority, and ultimately those from our CARICOM neighbours.”

On the subject of CARICOM, Husbands noted: “Barbados earns over $300 million a year throug the Caribbean Single Market and Economy owing to our capacity to seek goods and services to OECS and CARICOM member states.

“We have a common destiny and if we can support each other in the aftermath of COVID-19 we can guarantee our survival. No one is coming to rescue us, we need to save ourselves.”

Husbands praised the two-year-old administration for having faced eight controversies since it came to power and “managed to overcome them all”.

She said: “I cannot imagine what would have happened to Barbados in the current COVID-19 environment if the previous administration was still in charge.

“COVID came at a time when our Government’s economic team was working hard on restructuring our debt, had granted salary increases to public workers, as well as increased welfare support and tax concessions.

“We were setting the stage for positive growth, but now COVID-19 has left us $450 million short in revenue, our tourism industry has closed down and we have 43,000 people unemployed, more than at any other time in our history.”