Barbados economy needs to diversify: De Peiza
Serious discussions need to be had in this country as it relates to matters of revenue generation and our debt obligations as the country continues to grapple with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s according to President of the Democratic Labour Party, Verla De Peiza, who told the online audience viewing The Debrief TV Show recently, that there is a definite need to diversify the economy, especially given the heavy blow dealt to the tourism sector over the last year. The political leader made the point as she said that the need to diversify was being promoted by the DLP under her leadership since January 2020, even prior to the pandemic.
“The Errol Barrow Memorial Lecture was January last year before COVID, and already the Party was speaking in terms of recrafting our revenue; the Party already was speaking in terms of finding constructive ways of making education a product for our people instead of our people a product of education. We were already verbalising the direction in which we wish to go. We were already considering that our economy needs to spend a moment and foster other industries, besides tourism. We were having this discussion [in] January last year. And whilst, it may be that at the time, there was not the same resonance, certainly in a time of COVID that is the level of discussion that the people of Barbados would like,” she stated.
De Peiza added, “We need to be answering those questions and Government isn’t answering them, in terms of how we generate revenue at a time when our major revenue earner is not on its knees, but flat on its back with its arms outstretched. How is it that we are going to meet our debt bills, if it is that we are not making any money? Is it that we are going to be borrowing money to pay debt? Is it that we’re going to be raising money by taxes? There will come a point in time when that hits the law of diminishing returns. These are the serious conversations that the people of Barbados really wish to delve into.”
The DLP leader said that her party is willing and ready to engage the people on those matters. Her comments came as she insisted that initiatives are needed to reposition the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector. Her comments came as she said that the DLP is of the firm belief that MSMEs need greater support at this time, as such businesses will “tide us over” at this difficult time.
Adding to her comments, Second Vice President, Andre Worrell, who is the Party’s spokesperson on agriculture and the environment, said one of the areas that greater focus also needs to be placed on is agriculture. Worrell maintained that COVID has created a crisis that the country can ill afford to waste. With that in mind, he said the country must break out of its mould of dependency on tourism, and focus more on other industries so that we can develop a sustainable and resilient economy.
“One of the things that we would want to focus on, is to take away some of that focus on tourism, for right now, and place some of that focus on areas such as agriculture. That is one of the areas that I think would be a different approach, putting into agriculture, some of that money that you would normally put into tourism, and also meeting the immediate needs,” he stated.