Barbados has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the first review of the Extended Fund Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility Arrangement, after eight successive quarters of economic growth.
IMF’s Deputy Division Chief /Mission Chief for Barbados, Pablo Morra, in making the disclosure during a press conference today at Government Headquarters, said the agreement was reached following productive discussions with Government, and the reviews would be discussed at the board meeting in June.
Commenting on the latest update, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said that one-month shy of the first engagement with the multi-lateral financing agency, the country had recorded some positives.
Emphasising that Barbados was nowhere close to its goal of being world-class in a number of areas by 2030, Ms. Mottley quipped “we were half way” on the journey.
“We’ve also seen for the very first time, the lowest unemployment since 2007. That is no small achievement. We’ve also seen a return of confidence, I should say, by the domestic banking institutions in the domestic capital markets. And I want to thank the new governor and the previous governor, for working assiduously with the banks to bring them back to the table and to restore the confidence there…,” she stated.
The Prime Minister also pointed to other social and economic milestones that include, but are not limited to, increased minimum wages for some Barbadians, stabilising the exchange rate and ensuring adequate transport and sanitation services, while pursuing other growth opportunities in renewable energy, a new pharmaceutical sector, the establishment of a heritage economy, manufacturing, agriculture and the new life sciences terminal, opened last November.
Ms. Mottley called on all Barbadians to buy into the six-point Mission Barbados Declaration signed recently, stressing that all must work together for a better Barbados just as was done to save the Barbadian dollar, and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, she insisted that Barbadians must do all they can to “sustain the kind of growth that the country needs”, adding that the island housing programme, renewable energy sector, investment in strategic thinking to make citizens more globally competitive were important to attracting investors and others.
“We do all of this against the backdrop of a climate crisis and we do all of this against the vulnerability of more pandemics. But we believe that if we put in and continue the areas that we’ve been strengthening in terms of our public financial management…institutional strengthening in the Ministry of Health…institutional strengthening in education and training, in terms of our governance review, and the constitutional reviews that are taking place, that we can reposition this country to secure its future for the next two to three decades,” the Prime Minister underlined.
She further stated: “What we do … between now and 2030 will make sure that the country has the capacity to be able to withstand what is likely to continue to be a period of great instability globally.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Morra said he was pleased with the country’s performance. “We are happy to see that the economy is recovering strongly after all the series of shocks that it suffered in the past few years. We saw that…tourism has recovered strongly, that GDP growth has grown for several quarters, and that the outlook for this year remains very strong with a continued expansion of the economy.
“We also see that international reserves are at very good levels and we see that the fiscal performance has improved very markedly last year, and the budget for this year is in line with the targets set under the BERT Programme. We are also happy to see that the authorities keep on implementing [policies under] the BERT Programme…,” the IMF Mission Chief stated.
He also commended the Government for implementing its ambitious strategy to build resilience to climate change and natural disasters, with a number of actions being taken on adaptation.
Mr. Morra also praised the country for its efforts in the renewable energy sector and stressed: “So, on this basis, we see a lot of encouraging developments and we are very happy to continue supporting Barbados in achieving strong and inclusive growth and in meeting its climate policy goals.”