PM says economy will turn corner this year

Government will aggressively go after economic growth this year, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has declared.

Speaking at a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) spot meeting in Wotton on Sunday, Mottley said given that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme is coming to an end this year, adjustments to be made to the economy have not yet been finalized but significant growth is still expected to be recorded.

“Our IMF programme comes to an end this year. People ask me what are you going to do about it, and we said you have to wait and see what the outturn figures are. You have to see what the cost for capital [and] interests are, and you make decisions based on where we are,” she explained.

“The bottom line is, the IMF did not impose anything on us that we did not want to do. We developed our own Barbadian Economic Recovery and Transformation Programme. There are elements of it that have to be tweaked because of the pandemic, but we are going after growth aggressively this year.”

Mottley acknowledged that Barbadians have been through a lot over the past two years, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Elsa, and more challenges, but she assured future economic gains are looking bright as jobs and investments rebound.

“This year and next year we expect double-digit growth, and we expect to turn the corner,” the Prime Minister said. (SB)