Central Bank Governor Dr Delisle Worrell and the Freundel Stuart government are admitting failure of the fiscal measures that started in 2009/10.
Spokesman on economic matters
for the Barbados Labour Party
That is the only conclusion that can be arrived at from what Dr Worrell said in his January economic letter in which he said Barbados had repeatedly failed to achieve the balance between its foreign exchange outflows and inflows necessary for a stable economy, and his recommendation on further restriction on spending in order to protect the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
This means the suffering Barbadians have been enduring for the last eight years has been in vain.
Not so long ago, the government and Dr Worrell were preaching about the adequacy of the country’s foreign reserves. They said there was no debt problem.
But one after one, Barbadians have lived to see that these statements were inaccurate. At the same time, the public would have seen what the Barbados Labour Party as well as regional and international economists were saying about the state of the economy is true.
Dr Worrell confirmed all that we have been warning about when he said that Barbados had repeatedly failed to achieve the balance between its foreign exchange outflows and inflows, necessary for a stable economy.
Now that Government’s policies have failed as predicted, the Governor is using the threat of devaluation to sell the need for more taxation and/or cuts in government expenditure.
This is clear from his statement: “The reserves are what protect us against the devaluation of our currency… The future is exceptionally promising, but it will not happen unless we make it happen, and like all worthwhile objectives, realizing the vision will not be painless.”
As is his wont, Dr Worrell sought to end his bitter New Year economic pill on an optimistic note. However, the decline in the country’s foreign reserves, which persisted into the last quarter of 2016, is at odds with this positive talk about the tourism sector.
We simply cannot go on like this. The Governor should not be the one bringing this news on fiscal policy. Government needs to come clean with the public and outline what is really going on in the economy.
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