No devaluation under DLP, says Sinckler

There is not going to be any devaluation of the Barbados dollar under the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Administration, says Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler.

 

In fact, he told the House of Assembly on Tuesday evening that he would quit if that was to occur.

 

“If the next party wants to do it that when they become the government, if they become the government... But I would tell you, I would resign as Minister of Finance. There is not going to be any devaluation of the Barbados dollar,” he stressed.

 

Responding to the Opposition’s comments that the Administration was turning to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sinckler made it clear, “I and nobody in the Ministry of Finance, in the Government of Barbados or in the Central Bank as far as I know, certainly not under my instruction – I have not given anybody an instruction to engage negotiations with the IMF, either formally or informally for any IMF programme… We have said and have been very open, the IMF has come here on several occasions because we have asked them for technical assistance on a number of matters, such as the fiscal affairs department on fiscal policy,” he said.

 

According to him, the Government of Barbados has never hidden anything from the public. Sinckler even assured the House that very shortly he will speak on the state of the economy.

 

He said that he will not be bullied into making statements before the Government is ready to do so. However, he noted that the economy is growing.

 

“What is the purpose for panic in an economy that is growing? What is the purpose for panic in an economy that unemployment is going down? What is the purpose for panic in an economy in which we have adequate reserves to defend our currency? They may not be at the highest possible level. We have lost investment grade and we don’t like that. We have been repeating that all the time depressing Barbadians, but it suits some people’s purpose,” the Finance Minister indicated.

 

He added, “That is why I say I am going to address all these issues because people give the impression that the period between 2000 and 2007, was some miraculous period in Barbados in which we earned a whole lot of foreign exchange and did so well. Nobody makes the fundamental point that between 2000 and 2007 that the Barbados government borrowed $2 billion in reserves, when Barbados and world was supposedly going through economic boom.” (TL)