IMF Reaches Staff Level Agreement on the First Review of Barbados’ Economic Program under the Extended Fund Facility
May 17, 2019
End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.A staff-level agreement was reached between the IMF staff and the Barbadian authorities on the First review of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation program (BERT) supported by the Extended Fund Facility.
Barbados continues to make good progress in implementing its ambitious and comprehensive economic reform program.At the request of the Government of Barbados, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Bert van Selm visited Bridgetown from May 7–17, 2019 to discuss implementation of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan, supported by the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). To summarize the mission’s findings, Mr. van Selm made the following statement:
“Following productive discussions, the IMF team and the Barbadian authorities reached staff-level agreement on the completion of the first review under the EFF arrangement. The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, which is expected to consider the review in June. Upon completion of the review, SDR 35 million (about US$49 million) will be made available to Barbados, bringing the total disbursement to SDR 70 million.
“Barbados continues to make strong progress in implementing its ambitious and comprehensive economic reform program. International reserves, which reached a low of US$220 million (5–6 weeks of import coverage) at end-May 2018, have more than doubled since then. The rapid completion of the domestic part of a debt restructuring has been very helpful in reducing economic uncertainty, and the new terms agreed with creditors have put debt on a clear downward trajectory. The authorities have started the reform of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) by tightening reporting requirements and shedding excess staff.
“All program targets for end-March under the EFF have been met. The program target for Net International Reserves was met by a wide margin, as was the target for the Central Bank of Barbados’ Net Domestic Assets (NDA). The targets for the primary surplus, central government grants to SOEs, central government domestic arrears, and social spending were also met.
“In March, parliament adopted a budget FY2019/20 targeting a primary surplus of 6 percent of GDP. Full year effects of reforms set in motion during FY2018/19, including the introduction of several new taxes (an airline travel fee, room levies, a new fuel tax, and a new health service contribution), should help achieve this target. A broadening of the base of the VAT and the land tax, adopted in March 2019 in the context of the FY2019/20 budget, will help support revenue. The budget approved for FY2019/20 provides a solid basis for the targeted fiscal consolidation; the authorities stand ready to take additional measures if necessary to reach the targeted 6 percent primary surplus.
“The Barbadian authorities continue to make good progress in implementing structural benchmarks under the EFF, including those that contribute to an improved business climate such as a new Planning and Development Act passed in January 2019 and a Sandbox regime to regulate fintech start-ups set up in October 2018. A new Public Financial Management Act passed in January 2019 introduced wide-ranging measures to strengthen fiscal transparency and accountability. The government has also introduced a system for monitoring SOE arrears on an ongoing basis and has submitted a consolidated report on the performance of SOEs to parliament.
“Progress being made by the authorities in furthering good-faith discussions with external creditors is welcome. Continuing open dialogue and sharing of information will remain important in concluding an orderly debt restructuring process.
“The team would like to thank the authorities and the technical team for their openness and candid discussions.”
IMF Communications Department
MEDIA RELATIONSPRESS OFFICER: Randa Elnagar
Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org
IMF Staff gives Barbados Thumbs Up
IMF Reaches Staff Level Agreement on the First Review of Barbados’ Economic Program under the Extended Fund Facility May 17, 2019 End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not…
197 responses to “IMF Staff gives Barbados Thumbs Up”
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Know thineself…
“11: Women and Authority in West African History
Please click this link to download the chapter.Authority is the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. This chapter explores the political authority of West Africa women and the spiritual female principle in the precolonial and colonial eras. A longue durée perspective on gender relations in precolonial West Africa illuminates a history of gender parity and, at times, women’s authority over men. This history has been obscured by Western patriarchal ideologies—which imagined West African women as “beasts of burden,” women who were sold to the highest bidder for the productive and reproductive labor; in short, they imagined a West African woman that never was—and more recent historical processes, particularly the integration of West African societies into broader international mercantile networks and the ensuing establishment of formal colonial rule.
The starting premise of this chapter, therefore, is that during these precolonial times, West African women as a whole were never, as some scholars have argued, subjected to patriarchal forces that subjugated and subordinated them to men. Furthermore, West African women were not passive, but active participants in the making of their own histories. They played significant roles in their societies’ religious, political, social, and economic processes; exhibiting control over key aspects therein. Indeed, West African women and the spiritual female principle, during the long precolonial period, had the power and right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience; in short, they had authority. Female political leaders were as common as male rulers; and women, and the female political principle, were central to the seamless functioning of their societies. This right, however, would be contested and tested during the colonial period, resulting in the systematic wrenching away of that power—the removal of women and the female spiritual principle from the avenues of power and authority that they had previously occupied. West African women and the female spiritual principle, did not however, take this sitting down. They employed, and evolved their precolonial strategies of enforcing obedience, i.e. precolonial strategies of resistance, into new strategies for fighting for their rights.”
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This is what your VICIOUSLY, CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS won’t want taught in the schools..
https://wasscehistorytextbook.com/11-women-and-authority-in-west-african-history/
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Come of it, my friend……
Rather then present information that would rebut my comments, you chose to make a silly comment re: “….do you have anything more useful to contribute…and don’t make that about me too.”
This IS NOT ABOUT YOU……it’s NEVER IS ABOUT YOU, and I DON’T EVER INTEND to make ANYTHING about YOU.
This is about HONESTY, TRUTHFULNESS and CREDIBILITY……. attributes you can’t recognize, even if they hit you full in your face.
You came to BU with an “unsubstantiated statement” to give readers the FALSE impression that government did not want Barbadians to know INTERPOL Caribbean would be headquartered in Barbados.
Any reasonable and rational thinking individual would agree what I CONTRIBUTED was USEFUL, in that I PRESENTED the FACTS, (which can be SUBSTANTIATED), to PROVE what you presented to this forum was UNTRUE.
If YOU had “anything more useful to contribute,” you would NOT continually “make up things, just to make things interesting.”
And BTW, David BU has provided us with a forum where everyone can express his/her views…… or comment on the contributions of other contributors.
If you don’t want anyone to comment when you post blatant untruths……then, what you should do is to try to be more honest and truthful when writing your comments.
As long as you POST untruths, there isn’t anything you CAN DO to PREVENT me from presenting the FACTS to EXPOSE your lies……..WITHOUT the “back and forth banter.” I’ll leave that for you to do.
So “like it or lump it”……….. and get used to it.
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Interpol has always been represented in Barbados. The blogmaster is familiar with Officers who were attached.
The other clarification is that the paradise/panama papers posted for Barbados is a dump of CAIPOs database. Many of those accounts are legitimate as far as satisfying local requirements, it is a stretch to describe them all as receiving ill gotten gains.
We have to be careful with the generalizations.
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David BU
I have to agree with you that we must be (VERY) careful with the generalizations.
Goren asked the good lady to post information to BU about the 120,000 offshore accounts she so often mentions. She responded by advising him to check the ICIJ database and conduct his own research.
I read the Paradise/Panama Papers and did not find anything untoward nor did I found “the names of Bajan lawyers/politicians/ministers/THIEVES.” Perhaps I may have been looking “the wrong place.”
The site had a disclaimer which stated the offshore accounts were legitimate and invited people to indicate otherwise.
She said the link with these names was posted to BU. Could you please provide the link for the perusal of those who have not seen it before?
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But aren’t your Black governments in the Caribbean some mingy mothafuckas though…and not many can see it….cause they ain’t wake up yet.
Art….ya too slow..i don’t have the time, find someone who has the time to explain everything for you blow by blow, my children are grown and do their own reasearch and not just depend on what is put out there for them to read…so…ah owe you nothing..
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So how come no one is commenting on my other posts…they are not invisible you know.
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@Artax
The disclaimer offered by ICIJ supports the position that the database belongs to CAIPO. Lose tongues sink ships. We all want Barbados to be the best that it can be. We all should do our part to act responsibly.
If we care about Barbados.
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Check this out…i am not the one soiled the island’s name, i think we have established who has…every day on BU….so i suggest the curious wait this one out. I am not in charge of anything, just an outsider.
If people have done their research and found what they found..it is not in our hands..that should be established….i did no research, i stopped long time now.
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Hahahahaha
There you go………LYING AGAIN……. you just can’t help it.
I’ve NOT asked you to explain anything to me.
You conveniently REFUSED to ACCEPT I did my “own research and not just depend on what is put out there (by you) to read.”
That’s why I was able to PRESENT the FACTS to EXPOSE your mentioning the government with-held information to prevent Barbadians from being aware INTERPOL’s Caribbean’s office would be located in Barbados……
……………….was just another one of your “MADE UP THINGS, just to make things interesting.”
That’s WHAT you should be ADDRESSING, rather than preferring to focus on everything else that’s irrelevant…… it’s not my fault you’re the one who’s actually slow.
And I believe this nonsense about 120,000 offshore accounts is something you heard and cannot verify, but added your drama to make it sound “sensational.”
But David BU said it all…….and offered some VERY VALUABLE advice as well:
“We have to be careful with the generalizations.”
“Lose tongues sink ships. We all want Barbados to be the best that it can be. We all should do our part to act responsibly. If we care about Barbados.”
PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TAKE HEED.
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What i have learned about ATTAINING THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE…
when you UNDERSTAND WHAT KNOWLEDGE MEANS..
you get the sense that certain things you no longer waste you energies on…
unlike those who …DO NOT KNOW THAT THEY DO NOT KNOW…
ah told yall when i came on here from THE BEGINNING…7 YEARS AGO..
AM NOT HERE TO HELP ANY OF YOU COVER UP SHIT….not then…DEFINITELY NOT NOW..
get that through your THICK ASS SKULLS..
IT’S BENEATH ME..
ya ship SUNK ALREADY …because ya useless ass BLACK LEADERS SUNK IT..
ask them.
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Read what i posted AGAIN..then ask ya CORRUPT ASS, DUMB leaders about it.
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BTW…i sent that same information across the globe to people i know, including family members,,,and they ALL UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT MEANT RIGHT AWAY…
which helps us know, who is who..
some will understand, those who CANNOT awake …WON’T.
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AM NOT HERE TO HELP ANY OF YOU COVER UP SHIT….not then…DEFINITELY NOT NOW..(Quote)
@WURA
That’s strange, because I have never read in your contributions where you personally exposed something. What I can say is that you post the comments of other people. If that’s what you mean by not covering up shit, then I stand corrected.
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BTW…i sent that same information across the globe to people i know, including family members,,,and they ALL UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT MEANT RIGHT AWAY…(Quote)
@WURA
If it’s the Panama and Paradise papers you are referring to, I read the information and was unable to find anything concerning crooked lawyers, politicians and 120,000 offshore accounts.
Are you trying to tell me that you, your family members and people you know are the only people that have a special gift to interpret the information?
I realise when people call your bluff and back you in a corner, you come out ranting and raving in a very incoherent way.
I think you the one who should re-read what you posted, because it’s a whole heap of drivel that don’t make sense and it has no bearing on discussion.
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when you UNDERSTAND WHAT KNOWLEDGE MEANS..
you get the sense that certain things….. you no longer waste your energies on…
keep worrying about what i post, when you have no clue where it originated anyway…the dumbness just keeps revealing itself.
ah think it is THICK SKULLS that SINKS SHIPS..lol
as PROVEN by DBLP…..and the UNDEREDUCATED and MISINFORMED.
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“Are you trying to tell me that you, your family members and people you know are the only people that have a special gift to interpret the information?”
What i posted about other people and family members and the info i sent … HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PANAMA AND PARADISE PAPERS..christ..
i asked people to FOCUS ON MY OTHER POSTS..
i am not spoonfeeding anyone…my children are grown…my granchildren were born with knowledge…
we clearly see the problem…yall tend to focus on THE WRONG THINGS…then blame others when you DON’T UNDERSTAND..
Pacha…hope you are watching this..
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Anyone on BU who is AWAKE and AWARE and care to explain some of this to those WHO ARE NOT…please feel free..
ah finally lost my appetite..
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What i posted about other people and family members and the info i sent … HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PANAMA AND PARADISE PAPERS..christ..(quote)
I believe you need psychiatric help. You were the one that mentioned the Paradise and Panama papers, now you are coming with something that is totally irrelevant to the issue you raised.
Now you have the gall to say people focus on the wrong things? Are you serious?
Hal Austin wrote a comment to me in which he exposed your lying ass. You sent fake information to him and when he asked for verification, you ran away.
As I said before, you want to make us believe you are blogger supremo, but you are just another crazy loon that hogs the blog with other people’s work.
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Now ya are a psychiatrist..too…you can’t even decipher information that is right in front of you…ya are just an empty shell and spiritually DEAD…and YOU want to diagnose MY mental state…lol, lol, hahahah…murdahhhhh!!!
Ha,Ha dont even pay attention to yall these days, ya should ask him why..
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Why yall think the island has FAILED…
THICK SKULLS SINKS SHIPS.
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The essence of good debate is the ability to reason and appreciate all sides because no man or woman is an island.
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Problem am having is…if simple information, PRESENTED IN ENGLISH… cannot be deciphered…how will anyone WHO IS NOT ALREADY AWAKE understand REALITY.
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The essence of good debate is the ability to reason and appreciate all sides because no man or woman is an island.(Quote and a very good one. Now to live up to it)
By the way, just to make clear I have only had private correspondence with one person on BU, apart from the chairman. Otherwise I only communicate publicly.
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I blogged this earlier but
Now that the advertising moments have past de ole man would like to revert to the main subject about the IMF thumbs up.
The IMF “has skin in this game”
$200 + Million in skin.
Imagine this scenario.
The International Monetary Fund lends a member state money AFTER ITS PURPORTED DUE DILIGENCE and its substantive BAILOUT.
6 months after lending that money, the IMF comes to the world and says “the clowns who we lent money to 6 months ago ARE FVCKING UP!!!”
That makes sense to wunna?
It is in the interest of the IMF to make is seem like all is well with the international creditors
But ACCORDING TO A FRIEND OF MINE, dem vex as France over that $27 million payment for a $4 million job
@ the Honourable Blogmaster
You said and I quote
“…We all want Barbados to be the best that it can be.
We all should do our part to act responsibly.
If we care about Barbados…”
Let me prosecute this specific point for myself alone, and no one else.
1..As an ole man, many will tell you that we went no where looking for anyone, THEY ALL CAME TO US.
2..When you in your small hole and the man two parishes away comes to evict you AND EAT YOUR BERRIES what should you do?
Do you leave that hole EVEN THOUGH IT IS YOURS OR FIGHT FOR IT?
3..and what if you decide to leave that hole and run, not just a few parishes away, but oceans away, AND DE STINGY MAN STILL COMING FOR YOU what are you to do David BU?
You like to talk in generalities BECAUSE MUGABE HAS NOT COME FOR YOU AS YET!!
She has given you a space to park your social commentary FOR A WHILE.
But once Mugabe gets her act going, WITH THE THINGS THAT SHD HAS STOLEN, items that are taking months to hesitate, you can be assured that she is going to close you down and replace you with JONG
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Well at least we know … FT knows what is on their servers, every key stroke……no matter what happens…they know..lol
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@ the Honourable Blogmaster your assistance please thank you
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Piece…ah hope ya can help those…WHO KNOW NOT THAT THEY KNOW NOT.
i have been removed from the mindbending bullshit…
only few on BU have those skills…they can be counted on ONE HAND..
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Is Clyde Mascoll living in an alternate universe? The question is not whether the debt reconstruction advisors should be local, it is whether the Gov’t paid too much for the service.
#cantseetheforestforthetrees
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@Sargeant
To be fair some have suggested local talent should have been used.
One key point when selecting a vendor is to examine their list of customers.
When we examine White Oak customer list who do we see listed?
Yes the fee paid is important – time will tell if the savings from the deal makes it worth it.
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All this talk about fees and no one can state what they should be and based on what. So as usual, it is based on “I feel”.
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#yallarethievessyphoningandfunnelingasusual
that is what those fraudulent fees are based on…..so there.
can’t change anything now since ya charged ahead and did the scam already..lol
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#butyagotcaught
lol
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To the Rented Donkey dat we, the people going beat mercilessly
I ent know what de rest “feel” but i know whatt i know
And before I start writing, I gots to tell wanna dat all dis information dat I writing coming from a sympathetic body in the Ministry of Finance, next to Mugabe, who feeding de ole man de juice.
Dem tell me to axe why we, the people, ent hear cuffing from nobody bout de Debt Sustainability Analysis
Dem tell me day de IMF have a real uncertainty about Barbados’ ability to meet the deadlines given all of the factors inside and outside of the country.
De tell me that a requirement of all of this IMF loan is based on a detailed Sovereign Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA).
Dem say dat the IMF must conduct dat as a prerequisite for their debt restructuring process,
So for Barbados to get debt restructuring assistance would be entirely dependent on its debt sustain-ability analysis (DSA).
So Barbados would have had to satisfy feasibility analyses of our policy adjustment.
In addition to if we had money from any other sources and these things would have impacted if an IMF debt restructuring program would be endorsed and supported by the IMF
Dem tell me dat Barbados knows well its capacity and incapacity to pay our international creditors and can compile data to determine if we can pay them all.
The current problem that the IMF and the creditors are seeing is that with all the spend thriftiness of the GoB the IMF and the country’s Creditors are of the opinion that the GoB is trying to shaft them and offering unacceptable debt repayment schedules while spending US$27 million on White Oaks and US$ 40 million on scanners
So this is what is causing the protracted deliberations cause de creditors think that we poolsharking!!!
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Even worse…they can’t set up any innocent person and pin that 54 million dollar white hoax theft on them…their own names are all over it…wuhloss
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@David
To be fair some have suggested local talent should have been used.++++++++++++++
Only if “some” would allow a urologist to perform heart surgery. Mascoll just want to distract folks and he seized upon a non -starter, he was probably a member of the search committee that selected White Oaks. -
@Sargeant
One suspects Mia was given and assist on the recruitment of White Oak by Keith Mitchell, PM of Grenada.
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@Enuff
“All this talk about fees and no one can state what they should be and based on what. So as usual, it is based on “I feel”.”True. In a move of uncommon transparency the GoB laid the contract with WO before Parliament. What they forgot to lay were the other bids? So all anybody can do is have feelings [opinions].
None of these “Advisory Firms” have any trouble charging. And the WO deal is a “package”. So to extract any one category of fees is irrelevant. It is the total cost versus total savings.
Yet these so called “savings” are essentially money out of the pockets of local people/corporations. All this money out, and now one year into term, and they haven’t found a single person who did anything worthy of pressing charges? I’m not seeking to add to the population of Dodds, or to increase GoB revenue, but surely rules/laws were broken, or we could not be in position we find ourselves?
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Sounds like Cahill
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“All this talk about fees and no one can state what they should be and based on what.”
You have a knack for identifying the problem and yet not recognizing the problem. All we ‘salemites’ see are numbers floating around.
The US 27M appears to be a hard number, but the US $ 40M for the scammers appear to be not tethered to anything.
There was a revision to that 40M, but no other number was stated. So we have to go by our ‘feelings’ and ‘your past history’.
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Boom, TheO!
NO-ONE can state. Not even the government that hired them.
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I echo the above comment.
Mascoll did not respond to what people want to know.
It is not that there is no available /qualified consultants in Barbados or the wider Caribbean to negotiate the debt.
The Million dollar question is why did they pay such an inflated price?
Also why the big hurry? -
@ Redman,
Plse do not put too great an emphasis on the question of experience and expertise. That is bogus. The question is: if there are no local people capable of re-negotiating a loan, then how can we call ourselves a business culture. ordinary people re-negotiate loans every day; the sums may be hugely smaller, but the principles are the same. So, Mr Mascoll is admitting a failure of our educational/business culture.
But then again this is no surprise. Look at the mess at the Transport Board and the silly arguments over how many buses are in working condition and contracts given to Trinidadian consultants.
Doesn’t Barbados produce mechanics? Don’t we have competent turn-around managers? The real fundamental question about the Transport Board is the waste of invaluable real estate right in the heart of the city. A manager doe not have to be a mechanic, or have a degree in urban development, transport studies, accountancy, or industrial relations. S/he must be a competent manager with a competent team.
The big issue, I say again: move the Transport Board to St John, the poorest parish n the country, and develop the Weymouth site for residential, commercial and leisure use with the profits from the development funding the debt liabilities of the Transport Board. I have already outlined the shape of any such development. Think big. -
How can someone mention that references to “contracts given to Trinidadian consultants” and “how many buses are in working condition” are “silly arguments”…….
……… and then go on to ask……”Doesn’t Barbados produce mechanics? Don’t we have competent turn- round managers?”
……. when that is the point being emphasized.
According to the then transport minister, Michael Lashley, the reason behind bringing in a Trinidadian consultant and mechanics was to source spare parts and increase the availability of units in operation per day. Yet, rather than achieving an increase, the availability of units per day decreased.
UCAL and Simpson Motors have a cadre of locally trained mechanics that also benefited from training in fixing Mercedes buses.
EVERYDAY commuters are COMPLAINING about buses not being AVAILIBLE to take them to work or school……and waiting in the terminals 3 or more hours for a bus….. because there aren’t ENOUGH buses in operation per day to ADEQUATELY service routes.
As such, I’m surprised that any rationally thinking individual would opine that people referring to “how many buses are in working condition” is a silly argument, when the availability of buses is of fundamental importance to ANY public transport system.
However, let’s assume government decides to accept the idea proposed by the resident newspaper columnist and “develop the Weymouth site for residential, commercial and leisure use.” A project as large as this would take over a year to complete.
If the availability of buses is a silly argument, is it being suggested TB should continue to operate in its current form……… and wait until “the profits from the development fund the debt liabilities of the Transport Board?”
But, we know in this situation, it is not about WHAT was written, it’s about WHO wrote it.
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@John A @Hal Austin I am so glad of everyones concern for our great ana beautiful country and her people. Hopefully Barbadians will come home (2020) and buy up some properties and re-invest in their land. We can recover economically and morally if we remember who we are. We have the necessary leader for this time ( so I think) and despite the anomalies and hurdles we as a people are valiant and forthright. Dont let our guard down, but also be keen to get rid of past mistakes and build on our true dignity and heritage. We Barbadians have the balls. We have the guts. And we have the brains and love of ourselves and country that will always see us through. We just have to remember this, and not let down our former greats, or ourselves. We can make it. Onward and upward Barbados!
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