Barbadian exports are approaching crisis as the number of firms exporting products and services dwindles, head of Export Barbados (BIDC) Mark Hill has said, as he issued a distress call to both Government and the private sector for an urgent rescue plan.
The BIDC Chief Executive Officer reported that the number of businesses exporting from Barbados shrunk by more than half within the last 10 years, and if urgent action was not taken it could diminish even further.
“We are in crisis,” said Hill. “I am sending out an SOS. In 2000 we had 248 exporters participating in our certification programme. Today that number is down to 105 and based on the projections that we have, by 2030 we will only have about 38 exporters export businesses in Barbados. We have a serious problem.
“What is following that trend also is a decline in the amount of foreign exchange we are generating through exports,” he added, though not saying what the change in that figure was.
Hill outlined the developments during Wednesday’s annual Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry luncheon, held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre under the theme Building Bridges for a Success Economic Recovery and addressed by Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
Barbados TODAY was unable to obtain data for the last financial year but found that there has been a fluctuation in the value of export to major markets over the years, which usually hovers just over the $500 million mark annually.
According to the BIDC report for the April 2017 to March 2018 period for example, goods exported from Barbados valued $518.7 million, a 2.3 per cent increase when compared to the $507.2 million export value the previous fiscal year 2016/2017. For the 2015/2016 fiscal year, export value to major markets was $516.3 million.
Hill said while there has been a recent, noticeable increase in the number of small businesses, they did not seem interested in exporting their products and services.
“What we have seen is that there has been a significant increase in small businesses and other business, but – and this has nothing to do with COVID – but from 2000 to now, a consistent five per cent decline in exports taking place within the island, the BIDC CEO said. Addressing Mottley directly, he said: “So Prime Minister, we need a rescue plan for export businesses, urgently, and what are the interventions on the private sector side to get these export numbers back up?”
In response, Prime Minister Mottley pointed out that IMF economic advisor Kevin Greenidge is in the process of working with a team “to unlock funds” to help businesses further develop.
Pointing out that funds are already available, Mottley indicated that a scheme similar to the Barbados Employment and Sustainable Transformation (BEST) programme for the hospitality and tourism industry would be put in place for manufacturing.
She said: “Government is going to have to play a role to help bridge the private sector. Just as we did with the BEST programme and we put funds there in order to be able to help you keep your heads above water, we are going to have to do it with the industrial sector too.
“There is about $75 million there and we may have to top it up a bit, but we need to make it work for the private sector players who have serious plans . . . how does Barbados not have a HACCP-compliant food industry manufacturing entity? It is almost ridiculous. So at the same time that we are going to work with the garment and fashion industry, to be able to retool and repurpose and do clusters, we need to do the same thing with the food and the furniture.”
She was referring to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a seven-step food safety management system, considered essential for companies to export food to world markets.
The Prime Minister, the lead Minister of Finance, announced during the luncheon that her administration would be forming several compacts with different industries including transport, agriculture and garment manufacturing in an effort to provide them with assistance.
At the same time, operators in those industries will need to carry out certain upgrades as well as retooling and retraining of their staff, she said. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
