Of concern to Barbadians everywhere is the ‘fatigue’ that has set in triggered by an economy stuck in the doldrums for more than 10 years. Some Barbadians although tired of the persistent state of affairs seem to have expected Mia and the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to flick a switch to quick fix the economic problems of the country. Old news!
In the build to the 24 May 2018 there was chatter in the country about:
- Austerity measures
- Government printing 50 million dollars a month
- Dwindling foreign reserves
- A judiciary about to crash under its weight
- Sewage spewing onto the street on the South Coast
- Garbage pile up across Barbados and the under-resourced SSA
- Poor public transportation and the under-resourced transport Board
- Outstanding income tax rebates
- Low domestic and international investment flows
- Pothole ridden highways and byways
- Poor maintenance (physical/environmental of buildings
- Rapid fire borrowing from the NIS Fund by Central government and questionable lending to private entities
- Unresolved CLICO mess
- Twenty something credit rating downgrades
- Public servants not having a wage hike since 2006
- Poor financial state of SOEs (see Auditor General reports)
- Dysfunctional working committees of parliament
The list is not meant to be exhaustive.
What the last decade should have taught us is that we have to find a way to build consensus to move the country to an improved footing. Persisting with the adversarial and fractious approach will not help. Unfortunately the last general election has left the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) a broken party and the so-called third parties have not stepped up to the task at hand (so far) as a credible alternative.
See blogmaster’s pulse chaeck notes in red to the above.
- Austerity measures/no change
- Government printing 50 million dollars a month/from all reports significantly reduced
- Dwindling foreign reserves/stabilized as a result of default on loans and IMF and other injections
- A judiciary about to crash under its weight/no change
- Sewage spewing onto the street on the South Coast/immediate problem addressed until a permanent fix is implemented, so promised Abrahams
- Garbage pile up across Barbados, landfills and the under-resourced SSA/moderate improvement
- Poor public transportation and the under-resourced transport Board/no change
- Outstanding income tax rebates/significant improvement
- Low domestic and international investment flows/small improvement
- Pothole ridden highways and byways/small improvement
- Poor maintenance (physical/environmental of buildings)/no change
- Rapid fire borrowing from the NIS Fund by Central government and questionable lending to private entities/significant improvement
- Unresolved CLICO mess/no change
- Twenty something credit rating downgrades/moderate improvement
- Public servants not having a wage hike since 2006/small improvment
- Poor financial state of SOEs (see Auditor General reports)/no change
- Dysfunctional working committees of parliament/No change
The blogmaster shares his musings based on rumshop talk and observation. The thing about debate in a rumshop is participants hold strong views and know they have the answers to everything. The libation does not help!
Postscript: we need to hear more about government’s plan to address concerns about the NIS. It is our lifeline.
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