New IMF deal not off the table, says PM

Prime Minister Mia Mottley says Government is not ruling out the possibility of re-entering an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s historic visit of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to the island, she said “we are not taking anything off the table”.

“I’ve made it very clear that all things are on the table. In this world where interest rates are rising, I’m not ruling out [anything],” Mottley insisted.

However, she said no decision would be made when the top IMF official comes to Barbados, which is the first time she will visit any country in the Eastern or Southern Caribbean.

Barbados’ current arrangement with the IMF – a US$290 million Extended Fund Facility (EFF) which supports the Barbados Economic and Recovery Transformation (BERT) plan – comes to an end in September.

“We’re not making the decision this week,” the Prime Minister told the media on Sunday when asked whether Barbados is contemplating another IMF agreement.

“We’re going to have a conversation with the Fund and we will make the decision in the next few weeks. But rest assured that the same government that said to the world and the IMF that we want a balanced approach that puts people at the centre of our adjustments is the same government whether we go back into a programme or we don’t.”

Mottley added that much good had come out of the current four-year IMF agreement.

Highlighting some of the benefits, she said: “Barbados must be one of the few countries in an IMF programme that started the programme and gave the public servants a five per cent salary increase after ten years of not having one….

“We bought electric buses – we have the largest fleet in the region now, both per capita and absolute numbers. We bought garbage trucks and basically replaced the entire fleet of garbage trucks,” Mottley recalled.

She added that her administration has also started extensive road repairs – both to main roads and roads in communities.

“We’ve done all of this in an IMF programme,” the Prime Minister reiterated.

Mottley added: “Our relationship with the Fund has been a different one. Kristalina Georgieva said to us at the beginning of the pandemic, ‘Mia, spend the money but keep the receipts’ and that is a woman’s instinct – take care of the home, take care of the country but keep the receipts so we can reckon up late.”

Noting that Barbados had to “come off” some targets in order to deal with the loss of revenue, the PM said the IMF was well aware that funds had to be channeled towards dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Elsa, including rebuilding homes destroyed or damaged by that weather event last year. (MR)