Prime Minister Mia Mottley (right) in discussion with the IMF’s Bert van Selm (left) during their meeting at Government Headquarters today. To Prime Minister Mottley’s right are Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn; and Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Marsha Caddle. (C.Pitt/BGIS)
IMF team in Barbados
GOVERNMENT and a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be getting down to business to discuss the way forward for the Barbados economy.
According to a Government notice yesterday, an IMF team led by Bert van Selm has arrived in Barbados on a three-day visit.
The team will hold discussions with the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mia Amor Mottley, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Cleviston Haynes, other senior government officials, and representatives from the private sector and the labour movement.
It is expected that during this visit the IMF mission will update itself on the current economic and financial situation in Barbados, ahead of discussions with the authorities, over a potential programme in the coming weeks. Barbados last engaged the IMF in 1991 when the then Government entered into a Standby Arrangement with the Fund.
The Mia Mottley led administration said it was necessary to have the talks with the IMF as her Government sets about the task to enact policies to stabilise the economy which during the first quarter of 2018 registered a 0.7 per cent decline. The main areas that will most likely be given priority are the high fiscal deficit and ballooning debt, and the low economic growth.
In the meantime, the Government has also announced that it had appointed White Oak Advisory Limited to act as its financial advisor in the context of the debt restructuring process announced on 1 June, 2018.
The financial advisor is in the process of establishing initial contacts with affected creditors, and is expected to soon commence creditor engagement on the basis of the medium-term macroeconomic projections to be finalised by the Government in the coming weeks. As such, all queries relating to the announced debt restructuring should be directed to the financial advisor using the email address barbados@whiteoakadvisory.com.
The Government stated that it has held discussions with the rating agencies since last week’s announcement, and it is expecting that Barbados’ credit rating will shortly be adjusted down to Selective Default (SD), as is customary when comprehensive debt restructurings are announced.
Information for creditors will be posted periodically at http://gisbarbados.gov.bb/creditors/. (Central Bank of Barbados/BGIS)