Money borrowed, money repaid

Public concern about the level of debt which the country is incurring has grabbed the attention of the finance ministry, with the Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn going to great lengths in Monday’s Budget to explain how government was addressing the issue.

He charged that too many people were talking about the amount of money borrowed and not the amount that government had repaid since coming to office.

In fact, he maintained that Barbados’ level of debt today was 101 per cent of gross domestic product which was way below the 2018 level. Moreover, he contended that were there no COVID-19 pandemic, he was sure the administration would have had the debt-to-GDP at 92.2 per cent today.

He added: “When we came to office between June 2018 and March of 2019, during that period of time, the government borrowed $428 million approximately. And also, during that time, the government paid $484 million during that particular period, paid back to people. In 2019 to 2020, April 1st to March 31st, as I go through the numbers, the government borrowed in that year $340 million. But the government repaid $627 million to the people of Barbados.”

Offering specific details on the debt and repayment pattern of the government, Minister Straughn said the 2020 to 2021 period saw  the government borrow $1.1 billion during the COVID period when the economy almost collapsed.

“We borrowed $1.2 billion. But we also repaid in that very year, $955 million; in 2021-2022 when we had the ash, when we had the freak storm, we had Hurricane Elsa. . . .  I always say that I have never seen cash flow out of the Treasury so quickly with the confidence. . . . But in that year, we borrowed $913 million, and we repaid $765 million, sir. In 2022-23, the government has borrowed $1.381 billion, and we repaid $1.36 billion.

“In 2023-24, we borrowed $1.37 billion and we repaid $1.34 billion almost equal,” Straughn told the House of Assembly on Monday.

In total, he outlined that between June 2018 and projected to the end of this month the government would have borrowed in total $8.443 billion.

He revealed, however, “In that same period, the government also repaid $9.362 billion to the people of Barbados, as any responsible government will do. Now, these are the facts. And the only reason that we borrowed so much money was strictly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.” (IMC1)