IMF says Government continues to make good progress on economic bench marks

Government has met its first targets under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme which is funding the Barbados Economic Recovery Transformation (BERT) 2022 plan.

Following the first visit to the island since the Mia Mottley-led administration entered a second arrangement under the Enhanced Fund Facility (EFF) and first programme under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), an IMF team said Barbados was reaching some goals.

“The authorities continue making good progress in implementing their ambitious and comprehensive economic reform programme. Targets for end-December under the IMF’s EFF were met. International reserves stood at US$1.4 billion at the end of 2022, equivalent to about seven months of imports,” Pablo Morra, who led the IMF team that was here from Monday to Thursday, said in a statement issued at the end of the visit.

“Fiscal performance was strong in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2022/23, which bodes well for meeting the two per cent of GDP primary balance target for the full fiscal year.”

In early December last year, the IMF approved US$113 million for Barbados under the EFF, to support the three-year BERT 2022 and US$189 million under the RSF.

Morra noted that implementation of BERT 2022, the updated economic reform programme that follows on from the first four-year BERT plan, was ongoing and included steps to advance the structural reform agenda and build resilience to natural disasters and climate change.

(PR/DP)