PM Mottley defends investment push, knocks anti-investment stance

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has condemned what she said was a rising anti-investment sentiment in the country, declaring that efforts to stir public outrage over national development projects are putting Barbados’ economic future at risk.

Speaking at the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) first quarterly meeting on Tuesday, the prime minister defended her administration’s push to attract high-quality investment, even as protests mount against developments such as the proposed Afreximbank Caribbean headquarters at the former General Hospital site and the planned Holetown beachfront project.

“A love march premised on hate for investment? Doesn’t make sense to me,” Mottley said, in what appeared to be a direct reference to last Saturday’s demonstration in Holetown, where protesters decried what they called the “sale of national land.”

The prime minister also addressed criticism surrounding the transformation of the old General Hospital into the headquarters for the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a deal some opponents claim is erasing valuable aspects of Barbadian heritage.

“Simply put, you cannot live in the past and build for the future. Simply put,” Mottley countered. 

“Where there is historic value, we work to save it—whether it is with a cenotaph in Holetown, or the bricks of the old hospital being maintained and reincorporated into the new expression of the building.”

Mottley warned that the same anti-investment posture that derailed progress in the early 2000s is resurfacing, and Barbadians risk paying the price again.

“Ten years ago, this country was crying for investments and now that we have them… the very same people who then wanted investment and jobs, but had so run them away on all fronts, that not only them—not just the country—but each and every one of us bore the burden of the adjustment in that last decade,” she said.

She reminded the country that as a small island state, Barbados does not have the scale to compete with larger nations on volume or price, and therefore must focus on quality and value.

“People will pay for quality. Why are we trying to nickel-and-dime ourselves rather than focusing on doing the best and having a level of quality?”

The prime minister referenced places like St Barts, which she said are now offering a premium experience that Barbados once did in decades past, and challenged stakeholders to raise national standards to reclaim that edge.

In a move aimed at empowering Barbadians to take part in investment opportunities, Mottley further announced that the government will soon introduce unit trust legislation—a major shift that will allow institutions such as credit unions to invest in tourism and other sectors while offering returns to their members.

“The government is about to introduce the legislation for it to be facilitated,” she said. 

“There are opportunities for all of Barbados to be able to help you raise money. Rather than believing that all your finances have to be debt financing.”

She explained that this would provide a more accessible mechanism for ordinary Barbadians to earn from national development, especially given the extremely low returns currently being offered on traditional savings.

“If the debt financing you are accessing is 6 or 7 per cent, you may well be able to get some kind of preferential shares at 3.5 or 4 per cent because the money in the bank is sitting down earning 0.01 per cent—and therefore is reducing each year with inflation—instead of being able to work for you.”

The legislation is expected to complement new laws on fractional ownership, tourism product development, and tourism accommodation, all of which form part of the government’s wider investment strategy.

Mottley noted that while not every proposal should be accepted blindly, there needs to be balance. 

“This is not to say that just because somebody wants to invest, that you’re going to just open up yourself and lay prostrate to anything that they want. No, but the narrative cannot be anti-everything,” she said. 

She appealed to the business community, workers, and the wider public to embrace innovation, share responsibility, and commit to national excellence, adding, “The government can help facilitate the platform for investment… but it cannot do it without your partnership, without your drive, without your cooperation.” 

shannamoore@barbadostoday.bb