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The LoO is really showing up this govts lack of decision making
Sandra Husbands
3 hrs ·
BAJANS ARE SMART – DO YOURSELF PROUD
Blue is Dems rule; Orange is BLP rule. (Sorry a hacker removed original. 1990 – 1994 and 2008 – 2016 is DLP 1994 – 2008 BLP RULE . Figures are billions of dollars.Can you spot the following in the statistics from the Central Bank online portal:
1. At what point did the gov’t of Barbados begin to spend more, much more than they earned?
2. When did the revenue of the B’dos gov’t double, allowing more room for providing more services to the citizens of Barbados?
3. How large an impact occurred after the financial crisis in 2008 to govt revenues?
4. So what created the crisis then in gov’t finances between 2008 and 2016?
HAHHAAAH we answered all of you Question already , Massive land fraud and PONZI, laundering of Money ,Corruption , lies,DLP and BLP are crooks,
When Sinckler explained the worrying issue caused by a burgeoning unfunded pension liability one has to admit our political class in the last 30 years has failed the people.
Didn’t we discuss this matter on BU a couple weeks ago?
The MOF admitted the economy is in serious problems but preferred to concentrate his efforts on scoring cheap political points. It takes a hell of a man to admit he is a failure at his job but blame someone else for it and beg to be given more chances.
Sinckler explained how the committee setup to support government spending works read printing money. What did not come through in his presentation is how and when does government turn the corner by transitioning from running deficits to surpluses. He appears to feel comfortable printing money to avoid government defaulting on commitments that could have a catastrophic impact on the economy. It seems we are at the crossroads.
The narrative says the figures are in billions of dollars.I assume that was meant to read thousands of dollars
From following the charts of income and expenditure for all the previous administrations, the only period where consistently expenditure exceded income was from 2008 until the present.
So tell me how is it that every thing became a problem from 2008?
The problem has to be David Thompson and Freundel Stuart from 2008-2010 and Chris Sinckler hence.
Every thing has fallen down under his watch:
………Poor garbage collection because of lack of trucks
………Poor bus service because the dems have not bought a bus since 2008
……..The disintegrating QEH and heath service
………Poor roads with pot holes all over the place
………Lack of care of the environment………the country is in mess
………Poor water service for the people in the north and moreso St Joseph
………Sewage spilling into Worthing beach
…….. Dissing our children by imposing UWI fees on them
………Lack of money to schools resulting in no toilet paper, soap or educational supplies
………and I could go on and on……
Why were these things affordable under previous governments and not under this government?
So after not giving public workers a pay increase since 2008, the stinkliar is going now come and ask them to contribute to their pensions like the private sector? That will go down well! I paid into my pension so dont get me wrong but it is hard to take away people’s entitlements.
Poor management….plain and simple!
Look at the figures (referring to 8 March 2017)
1.8 billion for debt service
2.9 billion revenues
Debt service eats up 62 % of each taxpayer´s dollar!
Now look at the USA. Doctor No aka Worrell always told us: High debts no problem, USA also lots of debts. Barbados just like USA. True?
USA (2016): 241 billion USD debt service and 3.3 trillion USD revenue; ratio: 7.3%
Prodigal,
Carcon Carcinoman would reply:
Poor garbage collection because of lack of trucks: In my gated community I get a private truck every day.
Poor bus service because the dems have not bought a bus since 2008: My Mercedes GLS is also expensive to service.
The disintegrating QEH and health service: My private doctor in NYC is also expensive.
Poor roads with pot holes all over the place: My Mercedes has air cushions.
Lack of care of the environment: My Merecdes has tinted glass.
Poor water service for the people in the north and moreso St Joseph: My shower runs with Perrier.
Sewage spilling into Worthing beach: My private pool also needs maintenance.
Dissing our children by imposing UWI fees on them: Who needs UWI when I send my children to Keble College at Oxford University?
Lack of money to schools resulting in no toilet paper, soap or educational supplies: Venezuela also ran out of toilet paper, so what?
😉
It is “suspiciously ironic” that, after S&P downgraded Barbados’ credit rating, on March 3, 2017, to CCC+/C, we have witnessed another downgrade.
This time it is Carson C CaDOGan (minus), with a credit rating of CCC-.
Seems as though he is undertaking a futile attempt of trying to downgrade the credibility of Barbados Underground.
The BU numbers above clearly show that the financial massacre started in 2008 – with a man from London. What a glorious revenge of the British Empire!
You can tell me about OSA and the Golden Age of Bimbadum what you want. Clearly the man was not in charge when all these bads numbers built up.
It would be very interesting to see the NCC’s and Transport Board’s annual reports immediately after the retrenchment and ss at March 31, 2016.
Which I’m sure will indicate that, despite all the talk about reducing government spending, people were actually HIRED at both statutory organizations.
Artax, the MoF is then in breach of the contract clause of the syndicated CS loan. No wonder Moody´s testifies a partial default right now. The guys on the Caymans and in Zurich must run wild. This also means that we pay some penalty on the CS loan as an extra.
I really begin to doubt if the IMF would provide any emergency loan, given this ongoing contractual breach.
In the period 08-15 this MoF oversaw 4 billion dollars of excess expenditure over receipts.Which corporation would allow business as usual given these figures.Staurt and Sinckler received 19 billion and spent 23 billion between 2008 No 2015!Other than the
cross over at the Pine and the BWA madness where is the money overspent?These guys have stolen much more than we think.
@Tron. Debt service includes both principal and interest. What you quote for the USA ( $241 billion) is just the interest payment. To compare both countries metric by metric you will have to find the Barbados interest payment as a % of revenue. Last time I checked it was around 26%. Still very high by international standard. The USA has the luxury to borrow cheap cheap money for nearly a decade now.
LOL, Tron!
Dr Mascoll and Mia have always said that the dems have a spending problem and a management problem.
They have been raking in revenue even in these tough times yet, they continue to over spent by tens of millions every year……….in one year it was $525 million.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Barbados—A-classic-case-of-a–fallen-angel-_92084
Barbados – A classic case of a ‘fallen angel’
The Sterling Report
with Eugene Stanley
Sunday, March 12, 2017
A “fallen angel” in finance is a rated entity which once carried a high credit rating (investment grade) and displayed exceptional performance, but has since experienced sustained declines in ratings, culminating in the loss of its “investment grade” status. Barbados’ financial woes over recent years have placed its debt in that demeaning category, and future prospects for the debt also appear to be grim.
While there is no perfect way to measure wealth, one common approach is to look at a given country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, which is at least a good indicator of the general standard of living in the country (although high concentrations of wealth in a small number of people can skew the data).
With GDP per capita of nearly US$16,000, Barbados is among the top five richest countries in the Caribbean, but in spite of its “wealth”, Barbados has been struggling with a mounting debt problem which has resulted in an ongoing decline in its credit profile.
Ten years ago, Barbados’ sovereign debt enjoyed the prestigious “investment grade” status granted by the two major rating agencies, and was among the “highest quality” rated sovereign debts in the Caribbean.
However, Barbados lost its “investment grade” ranking in 2012, and since then the country’s credit ratings have been downgraded every year except for 2015.
Moody’s further lowered Barbados’ already “junk” status credit rating on March 9th following a similar move by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on March 3rd. The latest ratings actions placed Barbados’ sovereign ratings at CCC+ and Caa3 by S&P and Moody’s, respectively, making Barbados among the lowest-rated sovereigns.
In fact, among the list of sovereigns currently rated by S&P (obtained from Wikipedia), only two countries are rated lower than Barbados, namely Mozambique (rated “D”) and Venezuela (rated “CCC”); while for Moody’s only Puerto Rico at “C” has a lower credit rating than Barbados.
Barbados’ economy, like so many other Caribbean economies, was dependent on sugarcane cultivation and related activities, but in recent years the economy diversified into light industry and tourism, with about four-fifths of GDP and exports being attributed to the services sector.
Additionally, an offshore financial services sector, launched in 1985, became the country’s second biggest source of foreign exchange after tourism.
Barbados’ tourism, financial services and construction industries have been hard hit since the onset of the global economic crisis in 2008, with the economy shrinking 4.1 per cent in 2009 and showing very little growth since.
Future growth prospects also appear to be limited because of weak tourism outlook and planned austerity measures to be taken by the government. In addition, the country’s public debt-to-GDP ratio has ballooned from 56 per cent in 2008 to 111 per cent as at the end of 2016 and is likely to increase further.
The country’s international reserves have been halved since 2009 (in part due to the country’s insistence on protecting a pegged exchange rate to the US dollar) and currently accounts for 11 weeks of imports which is below the international benchmark of 12 weeks.The persistent decline in reserves is likely to continue to pressure the exchange rate peg.
In addition,the government has been relying heavily on the Central Bank for financing as private sector funding has been dwindling, particularly from commercial banks which have been unwilling to increase their exposure to the government.
Moody’s in its latest review assessed the likelihood of Barbados defaulting on its debt as very high in the near term, as the lack of fiscal adjustment and increasingly limited financing options are likely to impair the government’s ability to service its debt.
Moody’s further stated that despite the government’s efforts to contain the fiscal deficit and alleviate pressures on foreign exchange reserves, the fiscal deficit remains large and credit risks have increased.
Furthermore, the debt burden has risen in recent years and will continue to do so for the next few.
In conclusion, Barbados’ debt problems continue to deteriorate, and without any significant fiscal reform and exchange rate adjustments, the situation is likely to persist for a number of years to come.
Consequently, any investor contemplating an investment in Barbados’ bonds at this time should be mindful of the real prospect for some loss of principal in the near term, despite the country’s excellent track record of meeting its debt obligations.
Eugene Stanley is the VP, Fixed Income & Foreign Exchange at Sterling Asset Management. Sterling provides financial advice and instruments in US dollars and other hard currencies to the corporate, individual and institutional investor. Visit our website at http://www.sterling.com.jmFeedback: If you wish to have Sterling address your investment questions in upcoming articles, e-mail us at: info@sterlingasset.net.jm
Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler says the bulk of the foreign exchange generated by sectors such as tourism never made it to the Central Bank’s foreign reserves holding.
@Hants
This is why the BU family was not enamored with the Sandals deal. The bulk of the foreign revenue from reservations does not make it to Barbados.
The Unions will not like it but Chris Sinckler should have reached out to the Opposition 2 or 3 years ago and co-opted their support to give the public service a cut in salaries for an agreed period with a freeze in hiring except in critical circumstances. As a show of goodfaith the government could have agreed to slash the cabinet and parliamentary secretaries by 60%.
The private sector could have committed to buy local whenever the opportunity exist monitored by the BCCI and BPSA.
There comes a time when one has to take the medicine for the good of all. A reputation Barbados has enjoyed up to recent is that we have been a model country the world has envied -up until now.
The question of why did our debt balloon so much in ten years need a critical analysis.This is in light of the fact that Barbados neither experience a financial sector collapse like some countries nor a major natural disaster. And what did all this deficit spending go into in last ten years?
David March 14, 2017 at 1:21 AM #
“The Unions will not like it but Chris Sinckler should have reached out to the Opposition 2 or 3 years ago and co-opted their support to give the public service a cut in salaries for an agreed period with a freeze in hiring except in critical circumstances. As a show of goodfaith the government could have agreed to slash the cabinet and parliamentary secretaries by 60%.
The private sector could have committed to buy local whenever the opportunity exist monitored by the BCCI and BPSA.
There comes a time when one has to take the medicine for the good of all. A reputation Barbados has enjoyed up to recent is that we have been a model country the world has envied -up until now”
The unions have had a cut in salary for the past seven years having not had the legitimate salary increases which are due to them every two years. What more can you ask of public workers. You want their blood now. I am sure that salary increase would have helped to stimulate the economy which relies on spending.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/94552/cuts-easier
Despite knowing Sinckler, Fruendel et al all dropped the island into a sinkhole with their arrogance, mismanagement and incompetence. ..they still restored their own 10% salaries although the economy is even worse off now than when they grudgingly and involuntarily took the 10% pay cut under duress….kick them all out.
Don’t listen to Donville Inniss with his conman tactics, he did not want to take a 10% paycut in the first place…did he refuse or protest it’s restoration, of course not, they are all selfish, greedy and self-serving…not suitable for public service.
Sandals should never been allowed into Barbados, the same ministers should also be checking the local business people who are known conmen, for foreign exchange leakage, the minister’s and politician’s esteemed friends and business partners.
First of all you and others need to understand that Barbados is staring economic collapse in the face. Based on the numbers posted above the government has been able to generate revenue, it is expenditure that has been out of control. Do you think it is sustainable for the Central bank to continue to finance government borrowing. Expecially now the banks have not been oversubcribing to treasury bills as a short term investment?
The government has no choice but to cut salaries which for 60% of public expenditure along with transfers and subsidies. The Opposition will not admit it but if the were to win with the required majority it is what they will have to do. Agree to the cut for a year or two or the country goes to DDD. Take your pick.
@Hal
Given you knowledge of the Westminster system does it faciltate the call from government for the Opposition to put ideas on the table? This is important if one considers we are out a year from a general election.
Yes we have a hybrid system.
@fortyacresandamule
Good question but shouldn’t we assume that the accountant general who has access to all the source data analyzed it to support the appropriation bill debate by the MoF?
David,
There is no obligation on the Opposition to put ideas on the hypothetical table. Governments come to power with a manifesto and it is their responsibility to implement that manifesto.
Having said that, there are two other truths: I am sure Sinckler is a bad guy, he is simply out of his league. He is not able enough or capable enough to be minister of finance. As such he should have been removed a log time ago. In any case eight years is a long time to hold a portfolio.
The second truth is the limitation of lawyer/politicians. Advocates are briefed by clients in total ignorance of the fact s; they then go in to court and represent their clients as if they themselves were witnesses to events.
With QCs, at least in England and Wales, they charge a refresher fee every day, one of the clearest rip-offs in professional charging.
Added to that, a bare-foot bit from Marchfield, who got in to Foundation because he was bright, had an opportunity to teach on leaving school, then to study law, now finds himself in a grand house, with servants, guards, police saluting him every day.
That person is Stuart; he is snot going to give up that lifestyle voluntarily. He is going o take the country down to the wire, even if it destroys the nation.
As to the Opposition putting ideas on the table, I believe they should be challenging everything about government. Marching is not an alternative policy, it is protest. That is what students and trade unionists do.
An Opposition opposing an incompetent government should be preparing to bury them. They cannot go in to detail because they cannot see the books. But they must have an alternative vision of society.
By the way, about three year ago the MoF ran an essay competition appealing for ideas. Whatever happened to that. Did they get any entries? If so, are they going to publish them?
Why don’t our media follow up these little things?
@fortyacresandamule
Good point, thank you very much for your great input.
However, the problem is that Barbados has to repay such high capital at all. If I understand it correctly, a state usually finances expenses by government bonds, ideally in its own currency. If a bond is due, you issue a new bond for the same amount, hopefully for lower interest. In the case of Barbados, it is very different. Barbados relies to a certain extent on ordinary loans, in some cases even in foreign currency, eg the syndicated CS loan. That is a ticking bomb.
According to the Leader of the Opposition, Stuart/Sinckler/Sealy and Lashley have given Mark A. Maloney a half of a BILLION DOLLARS in projects in 8-9 years.
I am keen to know more about these 2,300 lots at Bushy Park which Mr. Maloney was alleged to have been given by the Stuart administration in 2013. Is this what mobilized on the ‘road’ election day 2013?
When i hear the Unions speaknof a pay raise they need to be reminded that govt have an option of pursuing the path of austerity which the opposition and financial institutions have been asking govt to do for the past nine years.
Instead of Unions seeing the glass as half full and from which they can still drink the unions cling to unreasonable form of self interest and ingratitude
No wonder Carson cannot talk of the Maloney scams they are all a part of, these weak, useless government ministers, more the reason to get rid of them all..
The idiots for leaders, ministers who just keep giving to the shady , greedy and arrogant Maloney who is the frontman for the shady, greedy and arrogant Bizzy “give me” and Bjerkham, how much is their kickback…..and what kind of curse drives these government ministers….they are elected so that their own people also benefit from these taxpayer funded projects, but they carry so much disdain and hatred in their hearts for their own people, once elected, that they cannot bring themselves to let the majority share in their own wealth…..the scum for ministers must give it all away to those who do not even like them….what a disgrace….and they wonder why they are failures, why everything they now touch has turned to sh….t running in the streets. ..disgusting.
That comment by Mia about securing benefits for city resident’s from the Hyatt approval through planning obligations was a superbly executed uppercut to Sinckler. It also proves the BLP has ideas.
Estimate this!!!
“WHILE 74-YEAR-OLD Lionel Inniss continues to live and sleep in the ruins of what used to be his house”
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/94557/elderly-dire-housing-help#sthash.1HErb96C.dpuf
“The government has no choice but to cut salaries which for 60% of public expenditure along with transfers and subsidies.”
This is the same choice they have always had, and consistently refused. The same party supporters who tell us their own personal affairs are in order, and they understand the concept of controlling their spending, have supported this public over-spending for “jobs”. Yet they also tell us, persons need to accept personal responsibility for their life and stop depending on the government. Why? When the government just keeps on spending.
To create the Greek narrative in Barbados the NUPW was given the greenlight yesterday to commence strike action IF the government agency responsible for wage negotiations refuses to meet.
Govt responsibility is to the overall interest of the country and not to one group or individual. If govt makes decision the bottom line should be by all cost
be that of putting country first
The govt have been holding the hands of the vast majority of pub lic workers indifference to what financial institutions state as what has been hurtful to the economy
Now as if govt response does not matter the NUPW and its leadership is once again on a tirade to active actions of dislocation against the best interest of the country
If these actions should occur govt should not cower or runaway from being bold in their use of sending a message of releasing themselves from the action of holding govt workers hands
In order to keep them employed
Owen Arthur is waxing again abot privatization. He reiterated the decison to privatize BNB.
Interesting contribution from OSA. He touched on the point often raised by Hal that for Barbados monetary authority to lazily be satified with the peg to the USD is not practical. The reason he essayed is that we do business with the UK and Canada and there we need a currency position to ensure a fairer settlement. He referred to Trump policies that will possibly drive a stronger USD.
Food for thought and easily one of the better contributions. He addressed what he observed has been a bastardization of the VAT.
OSA seems to be suggesting a removal of the peg to the US $ and replacing it with a basket of currencies.
Our current level of FX reserves makes maintenance of the current peg precarious.
OSA needs to make up his mind for the right prescription he would recommend for the economy. Last week it was bitter medicine and today a backtracking to Privitization.
OSA is a politician of the highest order and he also is aware that his prescription of bitter medicine through austerity measures who cause the entire social enviroment of barbados to collapse.
Now wanting to distance himself from those reckless measures he takes a Uturn and heads back to his original destination where the political animal in him resides and would not allow him to commit political suicide. Hee heee heee.
Hants March 14, 2017 at 9:43 AM #
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/94483/ministry-rescues-leggings-march
Hal has been saying that but the UK currency is in freefall due to the triggering of Article 50 and the Canadian currency is fluctuating, though the economy is steady, the dollar is projected to fall as low as 65 cents to the dollar later this year, it’s been on a 2 year seesaw, the greenback is only suitable if they manage to get rid of trump, he is too volatile and knows nothing about managing an economy, he has never even managed his own businesses without running them into bankruptcy………
otherwise it would be too risk to adopt the US….only an intelligent money person could make the correct currency choice at this time…that person is not in the current cabinet.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/94567/arthur-systems
The clock ran out on them and the election is till a year away…talk about poetic justice..lol, haha, lol
They can’t make up enough lies to dig their way out of the previous lies..lol
Arthur is saying the banking system is very liquid, which is true. But he does not propose what the regulator of MoF should do to cope with this situation. Go on, Owen, tell us how to deal with over liquidity.
Of course the banks are drowing in excess reserve. Credit to the private sector is not robust enough and the banks have no apetite for government treasury.
The excess liquidity in the system probably will soon start chasing foreign asset, eventually putting pressure on the peg.
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