More effort needed to deal with economic challenges

THE authorities in Barbados need to do a lot more work if Barbados is to deal successfully with its economic challenges. The advice is coming from Mrs. Vangie Bhagoo-Ramrattan, Head of Research, First Citizens Investment Forum. She said that Barbados is characterised by weak economic growth, high fiscal imbalances and a high debt debt to GDP ratio. “A lot of work therefore needs to be carried out if Barbados is to make progress in those areas,” she told a Market Outlook seminar at Hilton Barbados. She maintained that more has to be done to achieve the growth rate of 2.5 per cent promoted by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler. She noted too that the Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure is projecting a deficit of 5.1 per cent for the current fiscal year and another projection is for a deficit of 4.4 per cent by this time next year. “So although growth has returned to the economy, there are large imbalances that need to be addressed, and Barbados remains highly vulnerable,” the First Citizens Investment Services official said. Turning her attention to the rest of the Caribbean, Bhagoo-Ramrattan said that last year economic growth in the Caribbean in 2015 averaged 0.2 per cent largely on the backs of the decline in Suriname and in Trinidad and Tobago. There were also contractions in both economies last year. However, according to her, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis registered strong growth. “Antigua and Barbuda has been performing very well over the last two years or so, driven largely by tourism investment and construction,” she said noting a similar case with St. Kitts and Nevis, along with the Citizenship by Invitation policies. (JB)

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