Minister Caddle outlines key pillars of 2021-2022 Estimates

 

Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle today highlighted the critical activities and commitments of Government that are driving the Estimates, as the Appropriation Bill 2021 was laid in Parliament this evening.

The Minister explained: “As was the case pre-COVID, but is even more so now since COVIDhas been with us, Government’s first commitment in its expenditure, alongside public health, is to the social safety net and making sure people are able to survive. The allocations you will see therefore continue to strengthen support to the work of the Welfare Department, Child Care Board, Household Survival Programme and other key agencies responsible for people’s well-being, and for helping those who have been most impacted by the COVID crisis.”

Caddle also discussed Government’s role in substituting for the economic activity that was lost as the private sector contracted. “In a case where the private sector has had to stand still, not because they want to or because of an absence of demand but because the public health protocols and the preservation of life require it, Government must then step in. And we have. We have maintained public sector employment and are investing in the Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST) Programme and an intensified programme of capital works through our Public Sector Investment Programme, which this Ministry coordinates so that people’s incomes are protected.”

“This capital works programme, while initially slow to get off the ground, is now starting to come into its own, and the Ministries of Housing, Transport, Works, Water and Environment, in particular, will be executing an ambitious but critical set of capital projects which will drive job-led economic activity in the coming financial year.”

Making further reference to another area being coordinated by the Economic Affairs Ministry, she explained that the competitiveness agenda underpins the successful delivery of Government programmes as well as the capacity of the private sector to emerge ready for growth. “Work on the national payments system, digitalization and modernization of the public sector and sustained efforts to improve planning and licensing are key. We have always said that good governance goes beyond tax and spend, but is also about the legislative and regulatory powers of Government to make citizens’ lives easier.”

“In the end, it will all be about implementation. We are confident that the key Ministries are each day becoming better organized to deliver their programmes, and where implementation support is needed, it will be given.”

A final but essential pillar of the economic programme to which  Caddle referred relates to supporting the productive sectors and small business through Fund Access and other key work of the Ministry of Energy, Small Business and Commerce, as well as through a revitalized Enterprise Growth Fund Limited.

“We expect that with the ongoing rollout of the vaccination programme, and once those related protocols are eventually established, some level of economic activity will return. We want to make sure all Barbadians are well placed to participate in and benefit from this recovery.”

Debate on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure begins on Monday, March 15, 2021.