Opposition lays out “urgent” proposals for unemployed Barbadians

With unemployment hovering around 40 per cent and a slump in commerce, the Opposition People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) has proposed a range of measures targeting the jobless.

These include free bus rides, extending unemployment benefits, a mandatory reduction on credit card interest rates, removing land tax on residential properties and providing basic food items.

At a media conference on Friday to review the island’s current economic situation, the party’s economics team of Senator Crystal Drakes, Scott Weatherhead and Bruce Hennis, suggested that to fund some of the measures Government would have to make “revenue adjustments”.

Senator Drakes said: “What Government has to do now is assess all revenue measures and come up now with what is priority.

“Where that money comes from I don’t think is the issue, but it is the money that you do have, what are you going to spend it on and how best can you continue to support and carry Barbadians through this crisis?”

Senator Drakes insisted that there was a need now for policies that would allow the “survival” of households and businesses, adding that such policies may run counter to Government’s International Monetary Fund-backed Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme.

The team said with unemployment benefits soon to run out for many and with very little prospects of new employment any time soon, there needed to be an urgent short-term plan for the next six months, a medium-term plan for six months to a year, and a long-term plan for the next one to five years.

In addition to calling for social protection policies that would see Government providing a subsidized food programme for unemployed families, Senator Drakes said Government must create “the conducive environment that allows for rapid employment in the short to medium-term”.

“In the medium-term Government also has to find ways of solving local environmental & natural resource problems that bring about green and blue jobs that we can offer the expertise and innovation to the rest of the world,” she said.

Describing the estimated 40 per cent unemployment figure as “conservative”, Senator Drakes said Barbados is now faced with an unemployment crisis adding that “Government has to make sure that the unemployment crisis does not mushroom into a poverty crisis”.

She said while she welcomed the capital projects, they were simply not enough to create widespread employment and revive the ailing economy.

Senator Drakes further cautioned that as Government attempts to create some activity in the tourism industry “what will also be critical is maintaining the activity in the wholesale and retail sector because those businesses are now at risk of closing because of how badly the business cycle has been disrupted”.

Weatherhead. who painted an “extremely grave” picture of the economy, warned that once unemployment benefits run out in the coming weeks the situation could become even worse.

Weatherhead told journalists: “There must be changes made immediately. It cannot be business as usual. It cannot be the BERT programme as usual.

“Government has to completely rethink what it is going to do going forward because if they do not take immediate action to address immediate items, medium-term items and long-term items we are going to have serious abject poverty in Barbados.

“We are going to see the decimation of the middle class and serious poverty unlike [anything] we have ever seen before.”

He said if the PdP were at the reigns of Government it would protect the most vulnerable by making sure that unemployed individuals have food, utilities and excellent healthcare.

It would also diversify the economy; create a “locally driven economy that can sustain employment for up to 90 per cent of workers”; reinvent the education system; reinvent the tourism product offering; reduce wastage and dramatically improve efficiency in the public service and immediately reduce dependency on imports.

Weatherhead said: “We think that Government should establish a programme of debt relief through debt forgiveness.

“It would be supported by legislation, providing that persons or businesses who benefited from debt forgiveness coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, may not secure any judgement against other persons or businesses who owe them money, which debt pre-existed the date of debt forgiveness by Government.

“This would not of course include the principle on bank mortgages and financial institution loans, but past due arrears and interest up to the date of forgiveness.

The economic team laid out a series of measures for the Mottley administration’s immediate action:

· Extend the unemployment benefit available to unemployed persons up to 12 months, and make a similar benefit available to self-employed persons who do not presently benefit from unemployment benefits.

· Mandate the commercial banks to reduce the Interest rates on credit cards by 50 to 60 per cent for the next two years.

· Set a ceiling on interest rates on borrowing.

· Pass legislation to create a legal moratorium on mortgage foreclosures for up to one year.

· Issue a card to the unemployed that allows them to ride public transport for free. This card is renewed every 3 months.

· Provide a universal minimum utility service for each household in which there is no one employed or benefiting from unemployment benefits. This facility would provide, gas, water, electricity and basic internet/ phone service to these homes.

· Renegotiate the primary surplus with the IMF down to zero per cent (balanced budget)

· Create a food bank, where Government pays for the import of food for this bank which has no import duties, taxes, VAT or levies on it. This food is stored in large warehouses and unemployed people can apply to receive food support vouchers every week which gives them a set amount of food they can go and shop for from these food banks free of cost.

Weatherhead also used the opportunity to throw his support behind the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association for mandatory testing for all travellers seeking to come to Barbados.

“Only passengers with a negative COVID-19 test should be allowed to board any flight to Barbados,” he said, adding that the current protocols were resulting in the island losing out on valuable tourism dollars as reluctant travellers fear they would be at risk owing to some people not requiring the COVID-19 test prior to travel. (marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)