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Governor DeLisle Worrell Publishes How to Stabilize and Grow Small Open Economies

A Joint Caribbean Group met recently with senior members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The Managing Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde of the IMF will remember the meeting for the sharp exchanges which are reported to have occurred with the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados DeLisle Worrell. Forgotten…

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Dr. DeLisle Worrell, Governor of the Central Bank

A Joint Caribbean Group met recently with senior members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The Managing Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde of the IMF will remember the meeting for the sharp exchanges which are reported to have occurred with the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados DeLisle Worrell.

Forgotten in the hullabaloo is the fact that Governor Worrell presented to the two international financial bodies a paper which is worthy of national, regioanl and international discussion titled, Policies for Stabilization and Growth in Small Very Open Economies.

72 responses to “Governor DeLisle Worrell Publishes How to Stabilize and Grow Small Open Economies”

  1. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ ac | October 30, 2012 at 12:56 PM |

    RETRIBUTION IS A BITCH, ISN’T IT AC?
    Remember the January 2008 book of lies, deceit and pie-in-the-sky promises that misled the “illiterate among the masses” (your words, ac)? Were these political illiterates the rats or the naïve innocent children led astray by the sweet musical notes of the DLP pied piper in January 2008?

    The evil that a man did lives after him, the good still remains in the Families First Account.

  2. David Avatar
    David

    @miller

    Please stay focussed by adding to the conversation.

    Are you suggesting the BLP will agree to the position of devaluation of the currency?

  3. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David | October 30, 2012 at 1:12 PM |

    I said the die has already been cast. Time will tell.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    Are you backtracking? If the die is cast what are the options for a BLP government?

  5. ac Avatar
    ac

    Miller don,t pick on me this topic too deep fuh yuh stick wid the conversation.

  6. Gabriel Tackle Avatar
    Gabriel Tackle

    Recall we were part of the EC currency board prior to EWB introducing the BD dollar in ’73.I have heard this pegging of our dollar on par with the EC dollar more than once before but it has steadfastly remained as it is,suffering tacit devaluations and revaluations along with the US dollar to which it remains resolutely tied.I see no value whatever in devaluing our dollar but I acknowledge Miller has a point regarding the Clico debacle and a solution.I am in OSA’s corner in placing Barbados into the OECS union.I have no idea why it fizzled out although one hears stories of fears of Barbadian correctness and mature,experienced, intellectual leadership.

  7. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    millertheanunnaki(neitherBnorD)

    Miller is a Charlatan, he knows far less than he makes out.

    Dont be fooled by him! Seethru was invited by the OECS to join the union and he refused.

  8. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Just like the unity Freundel Stuart says that exists in his cabinet. Defeats the gang of eleven actions, remember they sat in cabinet with the same PM, could not or would not dare ask him a question and went out to plot who would draft the letter to the said PM asking for a meeting with the said PM.

    What kind of unity could be existing in the DLP when DLP MP’s sitting around a table with a man and have to go out and plot against him? Dont insult my intelligence, please!

  9. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David | October 30, 2012 at 1:12 PM |
    “Are you suggesting the BLP will agree to the position of devaluation of the currency?”

    Sorry David for not responding earlier but I went to pay final homage to a dear departed very old soul whose earthly remains hopefully would not end up like those described on another thread. Fortunately, Chris was in attendance and not Carson. A people that do not respect its ancestors will always be cursed and caught in a vicious cycle of despair and spiritual blindness. Fortunately, Chris was in attendance and not Carson.

    As for your question: no political party seeking to form the next government of Barbados in the coming round of elections would be so foolhardy to show its hand to the electorate that contains a devaluation card far less put it on the table to commit political suicide.

    If I say the BLP is committed or will accede to a devaluation of the local currency should it form the next government it would be taken and used as electioneering fodder just like the 10,000 adjustment in staff to be transferred through a process of attrition and rationalization to the private sector to earn a living.

    These are the same measures that faced the 1992 DLP administration but with 8% salaries rationalization on the cards at the time. The IMF wanted a maximum of 15,000 civil servants but settled for 18,000 plus an 8 % salary downward adjustment.

    Today operating within a Constitutional constraint the goal of rationalizing the level of personnel costs through a 10-15% downward adjustment is legally unachievable. So what are the alternatives to achieve the necessary structural adjustment goals?
    A devaluation, sorry realignment, in the currency to make it competitive against other tourism and international services destinations in the region with a smaller divestment programme that could see the transfer of jobs and functions to the private sector with some inevitable loss of unproductive and redundant jobs like clerk typists and admin assistants?

    Or no currency adjustment but a much wider divestment programme that could see the transfer of 8000 to 10,000 jobs to the private sector which would then own and manage most former statutory agencies with many jobs made redundant along the way leaving us with a streamlined, more efficient and financially affordable public sector fit for purpose for a 21st Century competitive Barbados?

    It’s your call David. Deal or no deal?

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    Are you suggesting BLP or DLP this is the path we must follow?

  11. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David | October 30, 2012 at 10:51 PM |

    Very much so! And it is a path we have mapped out for ourselves by our failure to change our excessive conspicuous consumption habits over the last 15-20 years.
    How can a person continue to live above his or her means by consuming more than is being earned without a day of reckoning? Both political parties have contributed to this mendicant mentality among the people by making them feel that the State must provide them with a living and be their wet nurse and even pro bono undertaker.

    Free education has not worked effectively for Barbados to the extent that it has failed to liberate the self-reliance spirit in the people but has created a socio-economic culture that tied them with dependency shackles to a system of State welfare and provision of government jobs.

    We as a country have reached that point of almost no return and seem inexorably destined to hit the financial and economic rocks unless there is a sharp and immediate turnaround.
    The CCB Governor’s dampened and sugar coated negative outlook with no Four Seasons on the immediate horizon can only leave us in more despair and a state of depression both economic and social.

  12. Jan Jan Avatar
    Jan Jan

    Carson C. Cadogan | October 29, 2012 at 7:26 PM |
    I nominate Dr. DeLisle Worrell for Managing Director of the IMF.

    I nominate the Doctor for a lengthy stay in a mental institution. Carson C Cadogan could join him and take Freundel Stuart and the rest of the DLP with them.
    LOL; LOL ; LOL

    Because they are all –MAD to think that we will vote for the DLP again under 25 years

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @miller

    How does your last comment reconcile with the giveaways which your party has been offering in what we all know are unrealistic proposals/promises?

  14. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    Min Boyce asking for
    …a comfort letter from Govt…..backing a $14 million loan… to take to a private commercial bank to bail out the Transport Board…having only but financials prepared up to 2009 and showing loss of $54 million….Did we hear right on CBC Morning Bdos News ?… Is there a bank out there thought that will consider? Wait wha bout the NIS…they run out ?

    one word ac….SHABBY

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Onions

    You should give it a rest. When your party was in power was there any effort to make the business of preparing financial statements efficient?

  16. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David | October 31, 2012 at 8:19 AM |

    Do you consider tax incentives for those who can afford to take responsibility for the payment of their children’s educational needs and their own medical requirements provided by private sector players unrealistic proposals?
    One would hope that these proposals would remove a concomitant burden off the state leaving it to provide education and health requirements to those least able to self finance these services.
    Those who are entitled to tax deductions by way of incentive strategies such as Registered Educational Plans (REP’s) and contributions to health insurance schemes will not be able to receive the benefits free at source from public sector providers like UWI, Hospitals and polyclinics. ICT could facilitate a system of control via the national registration number where all registered plans are made available across the whole public sector provider network.

    I do not agree with the land tax concessions unless a corresponding disincentive to recoup the expected revenue loss is imposed on the annual registration/licensing of private vehicles in excess of 1,600 cc and run solely on fossil fuels. The introduction of VAT on the insurance policies / premiums of these same vehicles can also be considered.

    The government also needs to impose a levy of say $300,000 per year via the VAT collection mechanism on all individual fast food establishments with annual revenues in excess of $400,000 to defray the cost of the cleaning up deleterious and unsightly conditions of a throwaway lifestyle and help defer the health cost caused by the NCD’s. Of course these establishments can always pass on the levy to consumers who choose this form of eating. Financial incentives can all be given to people to return bags of disposable containers to special collection centres the same way plastic and glass bottles are treated.

  17. Peltdownman Avatar
    Peltdownman

    @Youngobserver
    Barbados is not competitive due to a large number of factors, of which the level of wages is only one. In the last thirty years, as a result of the tribal politics that we see daily on this blog, successive governments have always acted in the short term, thinking only of re-election, and not in the long term benefit of the country. What else would explain the non-sustainable sale of land to foreigners in order to earn foreign exchange when what was really needed was a real effort to rescussitate the foreign exchange-earning sectors? This country is simply not productive, and that ranges from the attitude to work by most employees, through complacency by employers, to the obstructionism of the civil service. Actually, as a result of the cosseting that Bajans have received since Independence, nobody really cares, and the most important aspects of daily life are getting the nails fixed, buying brand- name goods, going to the next reggae concert, and playing tribal politics. Devaluation will not make us more competitive, only a radical change of attitude by everyone from government up will do it. That requires discipline, but instead of instilling it in our youth, we indulge them – tell them that they can do what they want – don’t mind the rules. We are large-scale importers. Devaluation will therefore impoverish many, and may well destroy the the few industries that we have as the cost of raw materials will rise. The IMF tried this crap in 1971 when they tried to impose duty on raw materials to “encourage” exports. It failed miserably. We need a real leader, but I don’t see one around.

  18. Cynic Avatar
    Cynic

    Devaluation is not supposed to make you long-term competitive.Short-competitive perhaps but it is largely punitive. The elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss is the massive amounts of individual and corporate tax evasion.

  19. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Cynic | October 31, 2012 at 10:56 AM |
    “The elephant in the room nobody wants to discuss is the massive amounts of individual and corporate tax evasion. ”

    This massive culture of tax evasion especially among the professional classes and corrupt business persons who fail to pay over VAT collections is one of the major reasons and contributors to the continuous fiscal deficit and drag on the economy. The failure to collect taxes encourages the government to increase taxes in areas that are easily policed like the PAYE payroll system.

    Can you imagine a small country like Barbados having so many unlicensed vehicles on its roads estimated to be in the region of 30,000 according to reliable sources? The response to the shortfall of estimated revenue is to increase the road tax on those who obey the law and pay.

    All this country is doing is by its own inefficiencies and incompetence building an urgent case for an imposed devaluation in 2013.

  20. Observing(...) Avatar
    Observing(…)

    @peltdownman
    “In the last thirty years, as a result of the tribal politics that we see daily on this blog, successive governments have always acted in the short term, thinking only of re-election, and not in the long term benefit of the country.

    Well said.

  21. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    “But most economists are not paid for knowing about the economy. They are paid for telling stories that justify giving more money to rich people. Hence we can look forward to many more people telling us that all the money going to the rich was just the natural workings of the economy.”

    This must have been written with Seethru and Mascol in mind.

  22. Louisville Air Conditioning Installation Avatar
    Louisville Air Conditioning Installation

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