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IMF Staff Pleased with Barbados so far

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September 6, 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. This mission will not result in a Board meeting.
  • 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 September 3–6, to discuss implementation of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan, supported by the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). A concluding meeting was held with Prime Minister Mottley on September 6, 2019. To summarize the mission’s findings, Mr. van Selm made the following statement:

“Barbados continues to make good progress in implementing its ambitious and comprehensive economic reform program.

“All indicative targets for end-June under the EFF have been met. The target for the government’s primary surplus was met with a wide margin, with the government running a primary surplus of 2½ percent of (annual) GDP in the first quarter of FY2019/20. This bodes well for achieving the government’s primary surplus target of 6 percent of GDP for FY2019/20. International reserves were also well over program targets at end-June.

“Good progress has been made in implementing end-June and July 2019 structural benchmarks under the EFF. The authorities have completed a review of the tax system and the Governor General has proclaimed the recently enacted Financial Management and Audit Act.

“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 is looking forward to return to Barbados in November to conduct the discussions for the Article IV and second review under the EFF and would like to thank the authorities and the technical team for their openness and candid discussions.”

IMF Communications Department
MEDIA RELATIONS
PRESS OFFICER: Randa Elnagar
Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org
@IMFSpokesperson

 

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211 responses to “IMF Staff Pleased with Barbados so far”

  1. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    They can start by getting rid of the dirty $2 note and replace it with a coin.

  2. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ William Skinner September 7, 2019 10:52 AM

    That’s not true. You have to listen more closely. During the election campaign, the BLP made it very clear that it has no magic wand for the deep recession and the national debt.

    And our Most Honourable Prime Minister has made it clear that no substantial recovery is to be expected before 2025.

    So no one can claim that this government promises the impossible. It is the first government after independence that does not promise paradise to the people. Compare Mottley’s statement with old Barrow’s many lies. If the Barbadians had known at that time in 1966 which vale of tears Barrow would lead them to, many would have violently resisted the independence movement.

  3. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Hal
    “The Barbados economy is easily manageable.”

    Stupse, why don’t you come manage it?Wuh economy you ever managed? You were a reporter and editor but pretends to be a finance and economics expert. You had the opportunity to tell the PM how easy the economy is to manage in public and nary a word. I am hiding behind a mask according to you, and multi-pseudonym Maripos/ac/angelaclarke masked too, but that don’t stop you from supporting her nonsense. So what’s your point..simple–you can’t impress me so look for ways to discredit me.

  4. Baje Avatar
    Baje

    THE WHITE MAN IS HAPPY SO EVERYONE SHOULD BOW DOWN TO IMF THE GREAT SAVIOR.

    STILL NO MINIMUM WAGE FOR THE MASSES WHICH WAS URGENT IN BLP FAKE MANIFESTO 2018.

    WHAT A WORLD WE LIVE IN WHERE TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION.

  5. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    In the army when soldiers complain about the soup, they are told to throw it out and get another bowl of the same soup.
    We apparently revel in warmed over economic policies. It goes something like this: Lay off workers; give tax breaks to the rich; dismantle social services; increase taxes, halt capital projects, freeze wages and embark on a tax and borrow strategy. It’s the old saying: Doing things the same way and expecting a different result is madness.
    Where are we earning foreign exchange outside of the tourism industry? How much of that foreign exchange actually remains in the country? These are the bold questions that need to be answered.
    Whatever happened to the international business sector that was supposed to bring in millions of foreign exchange?
    The Duopoly continues to make grande policy statements with no follow through.
    Even in areas such as building codes we fail to implement. Grenville Phillips claims that a building code policy was accepted more than two decades ago. It was not implemented . Now we hear about a “new” building code to come. Once more the Duopoly relishes making old things seem new.
    So it is with the economy. Our third trip to the international loan sharks. And the Duopoly who has led this country for six decades asks: How did we get back here. Where on earth did we go in the first place ?Pie in the sky red meat with a never ending supply of cool aid to wash it down is the economic policy. There is no real change. The depth remains the same.
    The economy has been deep in debt for decades and we have been listening to the same messages and promises for forty plus years. The end result is always the same. The poor go home to scrunt and get by while the rich are protected. WARU is correct.
    The Duopoly has successfully destroyed this country and by the time the IMF program is heralded as a success, the country may be long buried. However real patriotic citizens would hope that’s not the case.
    Nothing but respect for Pacha Hal Austin John A and those who try their best to engage in serious discussion about the economy. I don’t always agree with them but I really would not engage those who only see this country from near Lionel C Hill Supermarket and St Cyprians Church.
    Sinckler Mottley Stuart Arthur Barrow Adams Sandiford and all them should be held for economic crimes against the state and especially poor Black people. They are all in it together. They were all present either committing or aiding with ruin the economy of this country. They cannot be separated. All of them were in government long before now. Pretending that they are innocent is a sham.
    The Duopoly did not lose no decade. It lost five decades.
    Barbados deserves better.

    The Duopoly Rules

  6. Baje Avatar
    Baje

    DESPERATION OR FLEECING OF THE SELF EMPLOYED LOCALS BEFORE THEY EARN ACTUAL REVENUE.

    BRA policy nothing new

    A move by the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) to ‘enforce’ the law has left some self-employed persons hopping mad.

    It surrounds the recent decision by BRA to require self-employed persons to make pre-payments on their personal income tax.

    However, communications officer at the state-run entity Erica Lazare told Barbados TODAY the provision was always provided in the law and BRA was simply enforcing it.

    One annoyed woman who asked to remain anonymous, complained to Barbados TODAY that it was unreasonable to expect her as a self-employed person to pay her income tax in advance.

    She said she did not know how much money she would earn in the coming year and it was therefore difficult to expect her to pay money on earnings she had not yet made.

    “They want me to pay taxes on money that I haven’t even earned yet and BRA is telling me that if I pay too much I will get a rebate and if it is too little I would have to pay the difference,” she said.

    “But I don’t think that something like this should be mandatory, self-employed persons should be given an option. If there are persons who can afford to prepay their income tax then they should be able to do so, but all self-employed persons should not be subjected to this.”

    The irate woman said what made things worse was the fact that she only became aware of the new requirement after BRA sent her an email informing her that she was being penalized for having missed the June 15 payment date.

    That email informed her that she was being charged a penalty as well as an interest fee for late payment.

    “I only became aware after BRA sent out an email informing me that I was being charged. I did not receive any prior notification,” she maintained.

    Another disgruntled female said she was not in a financial position to make the pre-payments.

    The woman, who has been self-employed for just two years said business had slowed down considerably.

    “I think it would make more sense to allow us to make our money first and then pay taxes on that money after. Right now things are really tight and having missed the June 15 payment date and with September 15 around the corner I don’t know if I will be able to find the money to pay.

    “And interest will be going on all that time which will make it more difficult,” she said.

    But Lazare said provision was made in Section 54 B of the Income Tax Act for BRA to demand prepayments from that group of employed persons.

    “Prepayments for personal income tax and corporate income tax have been a requirement for quite a few years, since 1975. It requires for self-employed persons and people who receive rental income and corporations to pay a portion of their tax payable for the previous income year towards the following income year,” Lazare explained.

    She said the implementation of TAMIS had allowed BRA to send out notifications and emails to clients informing of the “new” requirement.

    “Unlike TAMIS, the previous tax system did not have the capability to send notification emails directly to persons, but TAMIS encompasses reminders of upcoming returns and payments, so that is why people will be now getting those emails,” she noted.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/09/07/bra-policy-nothing-new/

  7. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    I am loving the discussion. BU is on fire! David, it is for this same reason why I was against your earlier contemplation to change the format of the blog, notwithstanding, the nuisances of the political loyalists and those downright internet trolls at times.

    Hal, Skinner, JohnA, and you David have all made some very important points. The money printing explanation by the central bank was the best I ever read.

  8. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @SargeantSeptember 7, 2019 11:14 AM “Could anyone provide an update on the areas affected by water outages today? Taps running low then off, no announcement,nada,nothing, BWA? Halliday? GIS? Minister?Jong?Enuff?”

    Low water pressure at 6 this morning. No water at all by 9. No water now. Cannot flush the toilet. Had to do my number 2 business because I know that i could not hold it overnight. Cannot flush the toilet. So I cannot accept any visitors, not even whitehill, miller or GP. If there was a notice from the BWA I did not see it or hear it.

    But I do not entirely blame the BWA. I do a little farming and the drought this year has been really, really bad, the worse that I have experienced since 1994. Maybe our friend John can give us the statistics.

  9. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @Miller September 7, 2019 4:18 PM “If Persuad could not get his U.K. based rich cronies.”

    Maybe there are no rich cronies.

    Do you have rich cronies?

    Does Hal have rich cronies?

    I certainly don’t have any rich cronies.

  10. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @MariposaSeptember 7, 2019 11:36 AM “when Haiti was devastated Stuart was PM and barbadians did what was right”

    The Haiti earthquake was on January 12, 2010.

    Stuart acted as Prime Minister from May 2010 during Thompson’s illness.

    Prime Minister David Thompson died on October 23, 2010.

    My recollection is that then Prime Minister David Thompson attempted to go to Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, but that he got no further than the Dominican Republic. Because of the immense damage and loss of life caused by the earthquake neither the Haitian authorities nor the relief organisations were in a position to host a visit by a head of state.

  11. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    So Freundel Stuart was NOT the Prime Minister of Barbados on the day of the Haitian earthquake.

  12. SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife Avatar
    SirSimpleSimonPresidentForLife

    @John ASeptember 7, 2019 4:56 PM “like VAT, which I believe is one of the fairest taxes as the consumer can decide if to buy an item or not.”

    I am not sure why people thing that VAT is fair. As a consumer how do I decide NOT TO BUY toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, detergent, dish liquid, sanitary napkins, diapers, oral contraceptives, condoms etc. all of which are VATable. I mean thay had VAT on infant formula as well [i had an infant at the time] until I complained to the Ministry of Finance and they took it off.

    If I decide not to buy these things is it that I suffer zero consequences?

    Any of you big guys ever tried going a month or two without sanitary napkins?

  13. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Clico sales

    Former CLICO plantations in St John will also be on the market “within the next month or two”

    https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/241690/clico-sales

  14. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    @johnA. From a monetary theory perspective, printing too much money is BAD according to the theorists. Why? because fundamentally it eventually leads to inflation. But that theory don’t hold universal any longer. The experiences of Japan, plus the QE policies by the EU central bank and the FED over the years have called the said theory into question. Japan has been printing money for over twenty years to stimulate inflation with limited success.

    Even In Barbados case, the printing of excess money didn’t result in runaway inflation, rather, the inflation rate was within bound. In our case, the real consequence was a deep depletion of the central bank reserve.

  15. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    Fundamentally, apart from capital controls, what really gives anchor and credibility to the peg is the ratio of local currency in circulation to the foreign reserve at the central bank. When that stipulated ratio begins to diverge, then eventually your fixed-rate currency regime will start to unravel.

    Without the IMF, it would have surely collapsed. That it didn’t collapse earlier on like many had predicted, is a miracle in my opinion. I think government borrowing from the NIS play a big part in propping up the B$.

  16. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    For a small, open, import dependent, and a limited foreign exchange earning potential economy like Barbados, printing money like crazy while trying to maintain a fixed exchange rate, is akin to wanting to have your cake and eating it at the same time. Something will have to give eventually.

    Some people claim a flexible regime would be better for us, but that is just BS. Going that route make us poorer in the long run . We produced nothing to export plus we would be exposed to regular import pass-through devaluation inflation. Unless we are lucky to find a HUGE DEPOSIT OF OIL OR GAS, then our next best practical option is to just adopt the US$. A caricom currency would have been OK too, but that is just wisful thinking.

  17. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    We are not printing money but we are borrowing money to prop up the economy and pay debt
    Where is the solution fools

  18. David Avatar
    David

    We are borrowing money to support infrastructure development. As far as the blogmaster is aware there is a hold on paying foreign obligations until the negotiating with external creditors is complete. You may recall.

  19. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Without a growth plan BERT WILL COLLAPSE
    Mia will soon have to find ways to pay back the IMF loans the policies of breaking the backs of the bajan people with taxes is a one way street that would lend itself to a fall out of people having empty pockets
    The call for Mia to submit a growth plan is necessary .the country cannot take delight in sound good messages from the IMF when the economic realities of the bajan household calls for govt to create a sustainable path for economic growth which would take some of govt financial pressure off the backs of the people
    So the IMF is happy can the same be said about the barbadian household
    Go figure

  20. David Avatar
    David

    After ten years of economic free fall do you expect the economy will respond after 15 months how you project via a political lense?

    Do you know what were the growth rates in the Arthur years when we were being whisked along in the economic boom?

    Of course we need to put growth strategies in place, do you also agree that given the perilous state of the economy it was as important to implement a stabilization strategy as well? And that said, stabilizing tactics should serve as a precursor for growth?

    Do you know of any situation where austerity measures are not painful?

    Where Mia needs to do better is to take decisions that send messages to the public her government is walking with the people, one suggestion is to slash the size of her cabinet and reform MPs pension plan.

  21. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    David did you read my comment or do u still relish the thought of govt paying debt with borrowed money while fleecing the citizenry with high taxes
    Do u have a problem for a call on govt to create a sustainable growth
    Or do you belive that govt austerity measures are the best of all policies for govt to manage a country
    Do you understand that goverence is not only about economic matters but is part and parcel connected to its social enviroment
    Dont u not see that in the long ran with the policies being implemented the country social and economic enviroment will enter a point of no return
    Do u think that the IMF poicies would be of any help in bringing barbadians households out of a stalemate of economic doldrums
    Go figure

  22. David Avatar
    David

    You have the last word with your bable.

    Spot on!

  23. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    Where Mia needs to do better is to take decisions that send messages to the public her government is walking with the people, one suggestion is to slash the size of her cabinet and reform MPs pension plan.

    Hope is a road in St. Lucy.

  24. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    It is because u David belive that borrowing money from the IMF to.prop up reserves is a good way of restoring good economic health to the economy
    You keep babbling about Stuart and Sinckler and govt printing money and the many wrongs
    But of yet you are to bring to table a strong and meaningful argument that govt policy of high taxation and austerity policies would be the better way forward for the economy
    As i previously stated an economy cannot hang its decisions on a policy which leads all and sundry to a cul de sac
    The foolish of it all lies in a policies which are absent of having sustainable safety nets for its social enviroment.e.g the cries of retirees wanting their payments restored and retrenched workers still waiting to be paid
    The long and short would lead to people financial fatigue and chaos in the street
    Presently some small segments of this society are beginning to rebel as murder increases and the noises of people feeling the economic pain gets louder

  25. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    For those whose consumption methods are not controlled and manipulated by the villains of the Duopoly, I suggest you read. Dr. Leroy McClean’s piece in today’s Sunday Sun.
    It perhaps clearly spells out the mysterious growth plan that the jokers cannot find or implement.
    The vacuous Duopoly has spent so much time on Downgrades Upgrades and passing tests , that they can’t clear the cobwebs in their brains. This nonsense has captured some on BU. Dr. McClean’s style is different from Pacha but they are saying the samething.
    Don’t read it if you come from near Lionel C Hill Supermarket or St Cyprians Church because it would not make sense to you.

  26. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Mari

    You want a growth plan?
    You have 3.5 years now that you are in opposition to create one and bring it to the pubic.

    If your babbling is true then the population will be more than just tired with all the suffering and would welcome all the relieve that your DLP growth plan will bring.

    With your/DLP wonder growth plan and the BERT-tired electorate it should be easy for you to reverse the 30-0 DEMolition and get redemption.

    IMO it would be better for you to put ur concerns and suggestion to Ms Depieza and help her to prepare than to waste you babble on Ms Motley.

    Bert/IMF is here and will be her for at least the next few years. There is nothing much we can do about that now. Just like we had to take all the different failed adjustment programs under your DLP that let to an average of negative 0.7 growth (or no growth) over 10 years.

  27. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Correction

    You are not in the official opposition.

  28. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David
    Isn’t Leroy McClean the former CEO of BIDC under the Dems and now a consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture, one can assume working on one component of the growth plan–agriculture, especially Black Belly sheep and other ruminants? I continue to marvel at the anti-duopolists’ faux pas.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    She should also read Dr. Don Marshall’s article in the Advocate of 29 Aug 2019. He was very critical of the DLP as an opposition.

  30. Lorenzo Avatar
    Lorenzo

    John 2 the problem with your suggestion although i agree with you, is that Mariposa,s leader Ms Depeiza is in my view extremely weak having never won a seat and unlikely to win one. Therefore she will not inflence anything. The problem is a lot of the Dem lackies on bere like Mariposa, her sidekick Hal Austin, Baje,Skinner.,SSS and the two bajan canadians never run any country yet but love to run their mouths.Thankfully no one is stupid enough to ever elect them to even run a breadshop.

  31. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Forty.

    I agree with you about the inflation not being a consequence of printing money as in our case it was only done mainly to keep people employed who in turn paid their bills.

    My concern as stated was always about the pressure it placed on reserves. This whole IMF program when one breaks it down is based on correcting this imbalance.

  32. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Whats wrong with asking govt for a growth plan
    The plans given by this govt was for a better economy
    As for my taking any proposal to past govt i am not paid to give input in govt plans or ideas
    At present this govt has taken a path of creating a false economy on borrwed money and high taxation which leads to a stagnant economy high inflation and depresion

  33. David Avatar
    David

    She has her deputy for support. Bear in mind they were both re-elected unopposed. We need to break the cycle.

    @enuff

    Yes McClean was in leadership positions in the former administration but to be fair to him he was his usual outspoken self on issues he is passionate.

  34. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @Lorenzo

    There you go again trying your best to brand me. It will never work my friend.
    BTW what country did you run ? I forgot the name. Wherever you are be it Canada, George or Roebuck Street , I as always wish you a very pleasant day.
    You remain a source of perennial amusement. Thanks.

  35. john2 Avatar
    john2

    @ larenzo

    We share the same view.

    @ Mari

    There is nothing wrong with asking for a growth plan.

    I am just telling you that you are wasting you time asking and instead it would be better if you use that time to help you team to prepare a workable growth plan to bring to the public before/when next they seek to become the government.

    DLP had growth plans, stabilization plans, adjustments to all their plans.
    DLP borrowed to prop up FX ( CS loan)
    DLP borrowed for infrastructure (roads, Andrews super factory etc).
    DLP printed loads of money.
    DLP taxed the people.

    What did we get?

    Crime start to rise sharply (it didn’t start rising after may 2018)
    No bus, no garbage truck, cartroads for roads, no repaying of income tax returns, sick buildings, sewage in the streets (nutshell – no maintenance of anything beside the MP pockets)

    How much growth? -0.7%

  36. David Avatar
    David

    @john2

    That is the reason they were huffed 30-0? We need to move on, the BLP is in the chair. Get on with it!

  37. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    For the record: I have known Dr. McClean from high school back in the 60s.
    I give support when and where I think it’s necessary. I’m offended by political party robots.
    On occasion I have given support to:
    The efforts by MP Forde with his youth initiatives;
    The promise to eliminate the eleven plus and attempt some form educational reform;
    Less than seventy two hours ago, I distanced myself from those who attacked the PM for going to the Bahamas.
    Knowing Ian Edghill from the tremendous promise he showed in the NDP, I expect him to try his best with the Transport Board;
    Trevor Prescod and I go way back into the Black Power movement. I have no doubt that he is genuinely interested in the working class.
    However as in all things one has to be balanced.
    My major thesis remains: Whatever good the Duopoly has done must be complimented. For example the Freehold Tenantry Act. Whatever bad they have done must be exposed. For example the nefarious public order Act of 1974.
    I therefore will continue to present that in my philosophical view the two parties are one and jointly responsible for the good and the bad.
    In conclusion wherever the country is now is a direct result of where it has been taken. Three trips to the IMF bear out this reality.
    What is difficult for the apologists to accept is the fact that Barbados is more than eleven or twelve years old.
    We heard for the last thirty years about restructuring and diversifying the economy. Yet we have ended up with one viable ministry. We heard about old mains and water leakages for twenty five years and we still have them. We heard about garbage disposal since the 80s and Greenland and Mount Stinkeroo. We still have garbage all over the place. We heard about modernizing public transportation for thirty years and we still have mass disruption.
    Any reasonable person will be forced to conclude that the collective Duopoly must be blamed.

    The Duopoly Rules

  38. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    The critical thought of asking for a growth plan for the economy must now be laid at the feet of Verla Depezia
    It seems that present govt now have been given an official past by the blp yard birds of not having to answer the relevant questions on Transparency or a needed growth plan
    Those who now are quick to place an * on past govt performance must also be prepared for the crticisms levelled at this govt
    No country with a small and aged population and minimum wage can forever endured harsh and unrealistics policies hatched and left to be delivered in a one nest economic basket
    In due time all the eggs would be come addled
    Oh. David nothing new about the articles written about past govt
    Barbados has embraked on a new govt that is where the rubber hits the road and for all its worth this govt have done nothing to bring any form of economic relief for the people
    So what good is having high reserves on borrowed money when these reserves would translate into more taxes and economic burden for the people
    More reason why govt should by all means necessary commit itself to a growth plan to create a healthy economy

  39. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Enuff

    I say it again. I am no economist, financial expert, independent financial adviser (it is a criminal offence to call yourself an independent financial adviser in the UK is not regulated; that means a tax, pensions, investment, mortgage, or savings adviser), not a senior or junior editor, journalist, not a reporter. I am a pensioner.
    My education started at Belmont and finished at St Giles. Nor do I think I am the cleverest person on the blog. I am so dumb I cannot even ask a question. I come here to learn from the chairman and his fan club..

  40. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Well said Hal
    The role of these blp acolytes is to brow beat and wear down those who dare crticize govt.
    They cannot see that BERT is a onsided plan with a huge appetite for its own economic survival and to get most of the economic pie for themselves while the people pay through their a.ss holes

  41. john2 Avatar
    john2

    MARI

    “So what good is having high reserves on borrowed money when these reserves would translate into more taxes and economic burden for the people”

    We had borrowed money and printed under ur DLP government which led to the erosion of the reserves – which lead to the need to borrow to prop up the reserves and more taxes and economic burden on the people

    You can come with as many growth plans as you want to, the economy aint going to grow until confidence return (investment and consumer) and that will NEVER happen again in Barbados until government finances are taken care of.

    Doubt me? Ask Chris!

  42. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Dullard & David

    This issue of the size of the cabinet detracts from more important ones.

    We suggest that the PM has made a good explanation of her thinking and that an insufficient length of time has passed to measure whether her judgement was right or not.

    We would guess that the difference in management costs would not be two million dollars a month. Given what the PM is seeking to achieve, it may well be a worthwhile effort.

    Like the Bajans say, this trite argument may be like trying to pick peas from shiiiiiiiite!

  43. David Avatar
    David

    @Pachamama

    The people not buying the PM’s explanation because they are not seeing the commensurate performance.

  44. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Again

    Mia aint got no growth plan so in approximately 3.5 yrs the electorate will be BERT-tired. Get your growth plan ready, get you redemption next election and full your belly with laugh at Mia.

    Everything working perfect for you.

    my last comment

  45. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    The hubris is stifling. “Hal, who was born in the Ivy, St Michael, won a scholarship to attend Combermere School and left in 1963. He then went on to study at Middlesex Polytechnic (now university), and undertook various undergraduate and post-graduate studies at Cardiff, Thames Valley and Bristol Universities. Hal also done a number of course at the London Business School.”🤣🤣 I am done!

  46. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ William

    It is very difficult to have a discussion in a culture where views are seen as binary – either one or the other, for or against. Thinking like this means that nuances, differences of emphasis, alternative paradigms, etc, are ignored.
    In such a discursive culture interpretation of sociality becomes meaningless, all we are doing is shouting. Fabrication, a bogus reality, becomes a key in such nonsense view of the world and if not challenged you can find yourself constantly denying such untruths. The problem is, if you do not the gossip, rumour, fabrications become a version of ‘truth’.
    But lots of Barbadians ( and thus lots on BU) are comfortable with that farcical consensus. When last have you seen any new knowledge or ideas on BU or in the papers? On the economy they constantly go back to the same people who say the same things day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.
    How you present conventional economic concepts and be challenged by people who have NEVER READ AN ECONOMICS BOOK? To do so means you run the risk of people associating you with those conventional views (one idiot calls me a Marxist even thought I constantly deny it; another brain dead fool calls me a Keynesian. I think he can just about spell the man’s name).
    They never seem to reach beyond the narrow confines of Barbados for ideas, or even Cave Hill, something made easy by the internet. Why can’t our dynamic editors email Paul Krugman and ask him to write for them; or any other leading economist from across the world?
    At least we will get globally recognised people to tell us what they think about foreign reserves, the printing of money, austerity, and the other economic jargon we elevate to the peak of economic thinking.
    Some of us are lucky in that we have been exposed to other ideas and forms of thinking – Plato’s Allegory again. Long may it last.

  47. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Enuff
    You are determined to build me up in to something I am not. You missed out on the letters behind my name, including my PhD in rocket science and an -ology. In reality, I have one GCE, in buffoonery.
    Seriously, we must stop asking for the source of any idea, who it came from, before we engage it. Deal with the ideas, not bogus qualifications. Or is this part of the Bajan Condition. The source determines the relevance of the idea.

  48. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Hal
    All I can say is that one needs to keep a sense of humor. Many of them know nothing about the inner workings of the Duopoly.
    I wish them well. Rest assured fifty or less years the masses will be asked the most sinister question I have ever heard(Sandiford) : How did we get back here ? I have asked back from where.
    The Duopoly can even convinced them that we left and went on some trip when in fact we never left.
    Political magic reigns.
    Keep quiet but send the barrels and a few pounds or US dollars.
    Most of all don’t lose your sense of humor and remember you just come from the Ivy, my Brother.

    The Duopoly Rules

  49. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “The role of these blp acolytes is to brow beat and wear down those who dare crticize govt.”

    Hmmmm…….

    This role is certainly not UNFAMILIAR to you. After all, as a DLP acolyte, you have 10 years, 4 months EXPERIENCE “brow beating and wearing down those who dared criticized” the former DLP administration.

  50. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    John2

    You can come with as many growth plans as you want to, the economy aint going to grow until confidence return (investment and consumer) and that will NEVER happen again in Barbados

    Your comments are in total contrast to what this govt said

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