PM URGED TO resume regular meetings

A call is being made for the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Right Honourable Freundel Stuart, to make meetings of the Social Partnership a regular occurrence once again.

 

It is coming from the newly installed Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA), Charles Herbert, who expressed this view as he delivered remarks at the handing over of the chairmanship yesterday at the Hilton Hotel.

 

He said that thereinstatement of regular meetings is essential because certain things that are occurring on the economic landscape indicate that negative outcomes are likely in the future. 

 

“The present economic indicators show dangerous consequences if Barbados continues on current trajectory. What do I mean? Foreign Exchange Reserves have continued to fall and the Governor of the Central Bank has signalled that outflows will need to be tightened, and Government current and capital expenditure was 125 per cent of revenue in 2015/16 and the ability to borrow from willing lenders is running low. Meanwhile, the undesirable impact on unwilling lenders through unpaid VAT refunds, tax refunds and fees for service grows.”

 

Furthermore, he added, “Barbados’ ranking on ‘The Ease of Doing Business Index’ continues to decline and is evidenced by the fact that to attract new investment we now need a Cabinet Minister dedicated to ‘business facilitation’, incentives that erode our tax base and unwelcome intervention by Government in space normally serviced by private investment. The absence of kpis [key performance indicators] in key service areas means that there are no measures to show whether the situation is improving or declining.”

 

It is with this in mind that Herbert said that reinstatement of these meetings on a regular basis is imperative as it would allow the private sector to assist the Government in finding solutions to these economic hurdles.

 

“We therefore ask the Prime Minister to reinstate regular meetings of the Social Partnership and I pledge on behalf of the private sector that our goal at these meetings will be to improve the private sector’s contribution to the social partnership meetings; to always be clear on the role that the private sector is proposing to play in contribution to each item; that out tone will be that of collaboration and not confrontation; and that our only goal at these meetings will be to make Barbados more productive.”