BUSINESS MONDAY - Economic review expected soon

ANY TIME now the Central Bank of Barbados will be giving the date on which it will be reviewing the performance of the Barbados economy for the first nine months of this year.

The review will keep Barbadians abreast as to how the economy has performed between January and September this year, as well as outlining the projections for next year.

The last review by the Bank was done for the first half of the this year. Between January and June this year, the economy declined by 0.2 per cent, remaining in recession which started last year.

While tourism performed better, other sectors like construction, agriculture, manufacturing did not register gains.

Provisional data had also suggested that up to March this year such non-traded sectors as wholesale and retail, transportation, storage and communication and business and other services contracted.

For the nine months January to September last year the economy dropped 0.5 per cent on top of an expansion of 0.6 per cent in the same months of September.

On that occasion last year Barbados had just entered a four-year agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and up to June this year had met all of the requirements for a successful programme, according to both the Government and the IMF.

Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Cleviston Haynes will be presenting the review.