BUSINESS MONDAY: Greenidge: B’dos economy set back two or three years

THE COVID-19 pandemic has set back Barbados at least two or three years, Government’s Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Kevin Greenidge, has confirmed to Business Monday.

He said that the country was on course to deliver results in the economic recovery programme until the virus hit, resulting in some setbacks to economic policymaking. The Economist revealed that to date, Barbados had fixed its reserve position with some $2.6 billion in the Government’s coffers.

This is up from the $400 million the present administration found when it assumed office in May 2018.

“We also fixed the country’s fiscal position and had brought down the national debt,” he remarked in a brief interview with Business Monday.

However, Dr. Greenidge pointed out that as part of the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme being undertaken under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, considerable work still has to be done.

“We still have to reform the State-Owned Enterprises, and to fix the business climate,” according to him. Growth is another area which has to be dealt with.

Noting that the pandemic had hit Barbados hard, the country is hoping to rebound from the massive drop in economic output incurred, especially over the last year and into the first quarter of 2021.

In a recent question-and-answer engagement with this business magazine, Dr. Greenidge said he did not agree with suggestions that Barbados may be in for another round of austere economic measures to fix some of the current problems.

He also made it clear he was not bothered about the high debt running at around 154 per cent of GDP, and which is expected to increase further once the IMF agrees to a $48 million loan next month.