Submitted by Mark Williams
As an occasional visitor to Barbados over the last 10 years, I’ve noticed the changes happening to the Bajan economy are much like the transformation the major European economies underwent over the past 30 years. I’m thinking of the retail sector in particular.
If you look down the High Streets of many European towns and cities, the shops will all be very familiar; large multinational or nationwide stores, and an almost complete absence of small, independent traders. Every time a large supermarket wants to set up business in a town, they make the same argument that they will be good for the economy and will create jobs, but the effect is usually the opposite, with small traders unable to compete.
The consensus of opinion is now changing, and there is a greater awareness of the damage the larger retail outlets have done to local economies. Profits are not remaining in the local economy, products are increasingly sourced from overseas in preference to local produce, jobs are often given to non-locals, and vital skills are lost when smaller traders go out of business.
Politicians give incentives to these often foreign investors, pandering to the consumer demand for cheap prices and “competition,” and bending over backwards to attract foreign investment. The net effect is often the opposite, with profits disappearing overseas, and the fragile local economy undermined. I saw a perfect example of this on my last couple of visits, when I visited a large store in Black Rock. The owner was a British businessman, most of the produce seemed to be sourced from cheap overseas suppliers, and there was not a Bajan seen to be working in the store. By any reckoning, there is very little evidence that such a business can be seen as a net contributor to the local economy.
Sadly, politicians will always support such businesses, and totally disregard the needs of the small independent trader. The Barbados economy does not have a large manufacturing base, or a wealth of natural resources, or a large financial sector to prop it up, so is disproportionately reliant on the health of it’s small businesses. As such, politicians should look to learn from the mistakes made abroad.
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