TODAY Barbados will be observing its 54th anniversary of Independence, a milestone that shows gradual progress over the last five decades.

It was on this day in 1966 that the 166-square mile island severed links with the British when it lowered the union jack and replaced it with the Barbados flag.

That meant Barbados became the fourth English-speaking territory in the Caribbean to attain independence following Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana.

The country has made enormous strides in managing its own affairs, and in the process became one of the leading developing countries on account of the high rating it received repeatedly in the United Nations Human Development Report.

Much of this has to do with the economic and political stability, the socio-economic advances, the creation of institutions that have worked well for the most part, a strong commitment to regional integration and the allocation of resources to maintain a high quality of education.

A stable democracy, the country has changed governments via the ballot box and without much of a fuss, with its parliamentary democracy fully in tact. Barbados is also one of the leading tourism destinations in the Caribbean.

Perhaps one of the island’s other main achievements is a credit union movement which has mushroomed over the last 50 years.

However, as the island celebrates this milestone, it is doing so against the background of significant challenges, with a slowing economy brought on by a four-year agreement the country has with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an environment aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also brought a heavy toll on countries around the world.

Over the past three years, the economy has not grown. It has ran up huge debt and there are clear indications of a need for a new paradigm to propel the country.

Exactly one year ago to this day in 2019, the economy had registered an economic decline at September of about two per cent with only tourism doing well. There were projections for a two per cent growth rate in 2020.

That has not happened with the first quarter of this year revealing a three per cent drop in output and the remainder of the year to September, the falloff is over 16 per cent.   

Consumer prices have increased and unemployment is hovering around 25 per cent, although some critics of the Government point to a higher figure. This current situation of the challenges facing Barbados threatens to erode some of the gains the country has made. The economy, which was expected to be fully diversified, remains lopsided with only tourism being the major sector.

For years, Sugar has ceased to be king. What is so depressing on this day is that the sugar industry can only muster under 10 000 tons of the sweetener compared to the more than 200 000 tons at the time of Independence in 1966.

The export-earning sectors have not expanded beyond tourism and international business. What in the decades of the 1970s and 1980s were thriving manufacturing and agricultural sectors, are no longer the case.

Their contributions to gross domestic product, employment and domestic output have declined significantly.

The wholesale and retail trades continue to be dominated by Trinidad and Tobago businesses, there are no indigenous banks and the insurance sector, which the country’s two first prime ministers – Errol Barrow and Tom Adams – insisted should be owned domestically, are seeing a number of foreign players.

While total export earnings from tourism, international business and manufacturing amounted to $5.2 billion at the end of last year, outflows in the form of dividends and imports, transfers and loan repayments were at $5.4 billion as at December 2019.

However, all is not doom with the country still very strong amid the hiccups.

The Central Bank of Barbados remains a strong institution, and has performed its function professionally. Other agencies are in a similar position.

One of the key bright spots in Barbados is the growth and development of the Credit Union industry.

From humble beginnings, credit unions have amassed more than $2.2 billion assets at the end of last year. They continue to  provide financial solutions to just over 200 000 Barbadians who are members in the face of difficulties, which the established banking sector is not that inclined. The Credit Union sector also has an insurance company.

At a 50th anniversary celebration for the Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited, Hally Haynes said that the movement had contributed in a big way to the economic enfranchisement of Barbadians. One of the setbacks to date is that the movement has not moved to the creation of the long mooted Co-operative Bank and is yet to get a deposit insurance scheme, something the movement has been agitating for years.

Today, the Prime Minister will be giving an Independence Day message, in which a new roadmap should be laid out for the country. (JB)