Formal IMF meetings to commence from July

The Government of Barbados will commence formal discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from next month.

Word of this came Prime Minister of Barbados, The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, who delivered a few remarks during the groundbreaking ceremony of Harmony Hall Green, which took place on Thursday evening.

“With the IMF, their team will return to start formal discussions with us from July 2 to July 12,” she said.

“Last Thursday, I was meeting with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, to begin the process of the journey back to and the stabilisation of this country and to stop the bleeding. But the contrast between last Thursday and this today – with the groundbreaking – speaks volumes, because even as we seek to stop the bleeding and to contain the damage that has been done in this country, we are about the task of rebuilding and this evening therefore is the imagery of that rebuilding.”

Mottley believes that in order for Barbados to get out of the current position it is in, is to ensure growth.

“We cannot get out of this condition without growth. When we talk about debt to GDP ratio, debt is only one part of the equation. GDP is another part and GDP is determined by how much we grow,” she said.

“If we can continue to grow at a much faster rate than we have traditionally been growing then it means that we can reduce that ratio by tackling it, both with respect to the absolute volume of debt, but equally with the rate of growth by the absolute level of output that we can put out as a country.”

Mottley took the time to formally thank the efforts of Minister of Water Resource, Wilfred Abrahams for being hands on since his appointment and ensuring that the South Coast Sewage Project crisis is being dealt with, as that is a major contributor to the lack of economic growth in the south.

The Prime Minister believes that Abraham’s work is just testament to the fact that the Government may not and will not be able to always stop things from happening; however, when these things do happen, they will be all hands on deck in order to ensure that the problems are solved.