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Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) President, Dr. Warren Smith, wants to see Barbados back on a growth path.

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Some of the members of the regional media gathered for the press conference.

Dr. Smith to Gov’t: Make tough choices

IT is time for Government to make the tough choices to address the island’s growing fiscal deficit and declining foreign reserves.

This is according to President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr. Warren Smith, who made the comments during an interview with Barbadian media after the CDB’s annual press conference at its Wildey Headquarters yesterday.

“In economic matters, delay is never a good strategy because the problems that we find ourselves in, the challenge that we now are faced with, has been made more difficult as a consequence of the accumulation of the problem, so that this is an important lesson to learn. I think it is also important to appreciate that we need action now. The government of Barbados knows what to do,” Smith insisted.

Saying that the CDB was engaged in talks with the Freundel Stuart-led administration, he expressed his belief that the situation has reached the point where there is “no painless way out of this problem”.

He therefore advised the Government to do what it knew was necessary to return growth to the island’s economy, while indicating confidence that the island would be back on a path to recovery soon as long as such actions were taken.

Outlining the bank’s willingness to lend aid through funding, the CDB head noted that the island would first have to fulfil several requirements.

“We are ready to help, but there are certain things that need to be done before the assistance of the multi-lateral institutions like ourselves can become available, in a fulsome way. The debt situation is one that needs to be addressed urgently,” he said, explaining “that if certain tough decisions are made here in Barbados, possibilities would be opened up which would enable the infusion of nicely priced resources, which can be used to replace more expensive debt financing that is currently being accessed by the government of Barbados”. (JMB)

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