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Open Letter to Financial Institutions – What is the COVID-19 Plan?

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As the COVID-19 cripples world transportation, many areas will be severely affected…. these include Food, the opportunity to work & earn money, etc…… I would like our PM & her Government to engage the business sector/others and begin planning on methods to reduce the economic impact on the population:

  1. Banks, Credit Unions, etc. to reduce/suspend for a period of time, Loans/Mortgages/etc. payments
  2. Credit Card companies to do similar
  3. Food Importers, Supermarkets, etc. to NOT increase prices

and other transactions/processes that ordinary people have to bear daily. We are not asking to ‘wipe-off’ these agreements ……. just suspend them until (we hope) the virus is under-control and the World begins to get back to normal.

ks, BU commenter

The comment quoted connected with an online article Caribbean Banking Association Says It Can’t Be Business as Usual as Coronavirus Spreads the blogmaster read yesterday. The impact COVID-19 is having on the world spans the gamut – Italy on lock down to other countries  at various stages of executing a containment strategy. Unfortunately it translates to the global economy projected to slip into a ‘recession’. This is not good news for Barbados given the current state of the local economy. There will be some more pain Barbadians have to endure bearing in mind it is a country already suffering from economic fatigue.

Why should the comment by ks be of interest to all of us?

We are observing local financial institutions mobilizing to protect the health of staff and customers. A good thing all agree. What we have not heard so far – is how financial institutions plan to react to rising unemployment because of the economic slowdown. Global commentators are ominously forecasting that this recession will be worse than 2008. How will financial institutions commit to foregoing revenue to support economies like Barbados about to crash and burn?

Many businesses in Barbados are experiencing a significant drop off in sales, especially in the hospitality sector. If Barbados has to move to stage 2 and 3 of the Covod-19 disaster plan the situation will get worse. The ‘haircut’ Barbadians had to suffer  would have been in vain. Barbadian households and businesses will default on loans. The government does not have a Stabilization Fund like Trinidad and Tobago or the capacity to print money for stimulus like the USA.  The greenback is still considered the world’s reserve currency.

The question for the financial institutions in Barbados is –  What is the plan? We are in this together right?

 

 

 

 

 

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315 responses to “Open Letter to Financial Institutions – What is the COVID-19 Plan?”

  1. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    @Hants March 19, 2020 6:10 PM @ David, the old people on this blog are here every Ww ( Wrasse whole ) day because we have nothing else to do. lol”

    So true.

    And we are social beings. We all like company. Even virtual company.

  2. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    Got a communication from our GIS Thursday morning saying to avoid taking Ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) s for COVID19 as this medicine seemed to worsen symptoms. The communication also provided a list of adult and children’s medicines which contain ibuprofen. Also to avoid medicines containing aspirin.

  3. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ Silly Woman March 19, 2020 11:37 PM

    Warning first appeared in the Daily Mail, UK. about two days ago.

  4. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The frauds are falling, they tief from the people even when there is no need to. Those panama and paradise papers with the laundry lists of offshore accounts will see many, many of the world’s greedy pretenders locked away in a prison cell in the future, don’t worry that also includes the pretenders in the Caribbean.

    https://mol.im/a/8126711?fbclid=IwAR25P9iNAp3bl-BznHDe5fSIkRlX34gYdFrtqGXkPCBtFLwgxoLdO84J3SU

    “A glamorous Uzbek ‘princess’ with links to the British royals and London’s high society has been jailed for 13 years in a £1.7 billion corruption trial.

    Gulnara Karimova, 46, daughter of former tyrannical Uzbekistan ruler Islam Karimov, was sentenced by a secret court in Tashkent.

    A former billionaire, she was once believed to be the USSR’s richest woman and was a friend of Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent.”

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Financial commentators in the USA are calling for the government to issue an order to suspend utility payments so that citizens can use available cash for food and rent etc.

    Serious times.

  6. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    That would be the sensible thing to do at this time and for about 3 months, morgages, rents and utility payments are not practical or feasible right now, let’s see what Barbados and the Caribbean do for their people in that regard.

  7. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Tough times ahead, expect to see unemployment figures skyrocket for any occupation associated with tourism from GAIA to the Friday night vendor in Oistins.

    The PM’s economic address scheduled for today is must see television.

  8. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Is taxpayers money footing the corona victim bill
    A recent article in Times states that health cost is astronomical costing as much as 34thousand dollars to treat the virus
    If such is the shouldnt govt have been more wise in protecting the taxpayers money instead of catching at a few straws to protect the tourism industry
    Seems like govt i.implemented a policy of penny wise and pound foolish

  9. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    ALL countries including Barbados will have to review their TOTAL dependency on tourism and make the appropriate changes so there is no repeat in the future…am sure the more intelligent leaders have already started…

    …tourism was never the beginning and end of life as the greedy made it out to be for the past couple hundred years.

    …there will be some lessons learned for those who are OPEN TO NEW WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS to protect their populations from DISEASE/epidemics/contagion, POVERTY, BONDAGE and OPPRESSION..

  10. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    Every government around the world affect by covid-2019 will have to act on two front: Health and Economics. Both will have to be shouldered by the government resorting to printing money. The USA fed is about to crank up the printing press. Capitalistic free-market is in a free fall right now. Only government socialism( bailout) will prevent its demise at this stage.

  11. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ WURA-War-on-U March 20, 2020 9:50 AM
    “ALL countries including Barbados will have to review their TOTAL dependency on tourism and make the appropriate changes so there is no repeat in the future…am sure the more intelligent leaders have already started..”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    There go those grandiose plans for the likes of the Hyatt Lighthouse once promoted as the beacon of economic hope and salvation for Bridgetown.

    Who is going to shell out a few hundred millions to build a park lane hotel on the Bajan monopoly investment board?

    Mother Nature is certainly sending a ‘viral’ message to the world of humans getting to uppity for their own survival.

    Oh, how the planet has started to breathe a sigh of environmental relief as a result of Covid (and his mutant cousins) applying the brakes on the human carbon footprints caused by greed and excessive materialism by taking too much from Pachamama.

    Now where is our old BU blogger friend Pachamama (the archenemy of Hal Austin) who foresaw this dystopian event as a consequence of the excesses of capitalism?

    But you must look on the bright side. Covid could be a blessing in disguise. At least agriculture has become the Bajan Cinderella overnight.

    Even the Minister- a former guru in the travel agency business- has a plan in his back pocket to turn the agricultural ministry into the blue-eyed boy in the Queen of Bee’s Cabinet.

    Our Can-Bajan friend “Hants” must be smiling all the way to the top of the class of Bajan patriots as the tide of agriculture is about to rise to float his boat of food security laden with a cargo of local foods he has been promoting on BU for years with as much enthusiasm as Carmet(t)a Fraser who ought to be considered for the status as the other national heroine.

  12. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Mother Nature is certainly sending a ‘viral’ message to the world of humans getting to uppity for their own survival.

    Now where is our old BU blogger friend Pachamama who foresaw this dystopian event as a consequence of the excesses of capitalism?”

    I am actually giving Mia the benefit of the doubt and hope she can see what’s really going on here, we may get lucky and hear her addressing THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED HER, pay her salary and would much prefer hear what can be done for them WITH THEIR OWN MONEY…taxes etc…instead of hearing her promote, address or only see after the best interests of the business community.

    and as long as the ministers and their supporters understand that every country impacted by the virus has to pick up the pieces and move into the 21st century, it is not only a Barbados alone phenomena….it’s time to open up to the people..the economic evolution should move along just fine in EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE as a collective..and not just a few…

  13. John A Avatar
    John A

    @Miller

    If What the minister claims does materialise with our agriculture that should make all Bajans stop and think how much FX we wasted over the last 10 years on produce we could have produced.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    #tippingpoint

  15. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ WURA-War-on-U March 20, 2020 6:23 PM
    “I am actually giving Mia the benefit of the doubt and hope she can see what’s really going on here, we may get lucky and hear her addressing THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED HER, pay her salary and would much prefer hear what can be done for them WITH THEIR OWN MONEY…taxes etc…instead of hearing her promote, address or only see after the best interests of the business community.
    and as long as the ministers and their supporters understand that every country impacted by the virus has to pick up the pieces and move into the 21st century, it is not only a Barbados alone phenomena….it’s time to open up to the people..the economic evolution should move along just fine in EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE as a collective..and not just a few…”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Here is the greenest of the greatest of opportunities being offered to the MAM administration to take some of the pressure off the demand for foreign currency by allowing ordinary young Bajans (many enlisted in the army of permanent unemployment) to grow and process their own Bajan brands of Mary Jane along with a range of food crops to feed themselves and improve their own health without resorting to imported pharmaceuticals.

    The same way the people of Amsterdam can make a good living from the ambush marketing tactics of exploiting the Jamaican icons through the sophisticated hawking of the byproducts from the ‘devil’ cannabis and its spin-off souvenirs and trinkets, why can’t young Bajans try their hands at another industry now that King Sugar is dead and tourism is no longer Queen?

    What else does Barbados have to offer to a post Covid-19 world?

    Why not the niche marketing of the natural goods and services of a people who have arrived at the stark realization that ‘God’ was never a Bajan and Covid is not the devil in disguise but an angel of light pointing the young to a future of real economic empowerment and healthier lifestyles in harmony with sometimes cruel Mother Nature and her fragile environment called gaia?

    It’s time the so-called leaders of the brand called ‘Bajan’ step up to the plate and come up with policies to save the country from going under.

    As it stands, Barbados has nothing to lose in charting a different course for its own economic and social survival. Not even the imperialist dogs now bitten by Covid-19 can dictate to you what you must do from 2020 and onwards.

  16. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “to grow and process their own Bajan brands of Mary Jane along with a range of food crops to feed themselves and improve their own health without resorting to imported pharmaceuticals.”

    I am not impressed with Black Bajan leaders, they do nothing to upgrade the lives of and enrich their people whose votes they always beg, whose tax dollars pay their salaries..

    the virus has rendered their Black people oppressing Cannabis Legislation that they rushed off and enacted, …OBSOLETE.

    This was the evil plan to continue to criminalize, terrorize and harass the majority population and reduce them to slaves to foreign investors while she allow the criminals in the business community to prosper..

    “Indigenous use of the plant is still outlawed as the government makes way for the pharmaceutical development and sale of drugs made from cannabis. CORVID-19 will impact on the medicinal cannabis industry’s development and as such the production of cannabis medication, and its availability for patients as planned by the powers that be.

    Further to this the people of Barbados are denied natural access to the plant and its ability to assist in the fight against the virus. Will the government now accept that it should legalize the possession and cultivation of cannabis in reasonable amounts for all Barbadians? The Sacrament Cannabis Act will have to be amended. As it stands the cultivation and use of cannabis for sacramental purposes can only be done at a place of worship. Barbadians are being asked not to gather and as such schools, sporting activities, charitable events and churches have put a pause on their regular activities. Churches will conduct their affairs online for the most part while once again brothers and sisters of the Rastafari movement are denied the ability to practice their faith to the fullness because the government does not locate a Rastafari home as a place of worship

    Another major area in which CORVID-19 is affecting the Barbadian society is the education of its young people. Long has the government of Barbados disregarded and disrespected the ability of homeschooling to seriously assist with the education of our nation’s children. As such no homeschooling department has ever been developed by the government of Barbados to assist parents wishing to educate their children at home. Homeschooling due to CORVID-19 and the resulting closure of schools will now have to be explored in its fullness. Parents who did not think they had the ability or time to homeschool will be put to the test, and believe you me, they will succeed. Will parents seeing the success of homeschooling revert to an educational system that has long failed them and further enslaved generations Barbadians?.”

  17. David Avatar
    David

    The TnT central bank reduced the reserve requirement support commercial banks creating an ease for customers. The finance minister said banks have committed to giving moratoriums..

  18. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    So BERT has been abandoned, or postponed. The president has just launched a fiscal stimulus, that is two years late. Better tlate than never, even if it too the coronavirus to trigger the change.

  19. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Black Bajan governments do not look out for the welfare of the present or future generations…and as long as they continue with their destructive and backward philosophy that generations of Black people are to be slaves to a tiny business community ….the majority population will never prosper or progress..

    Now she feels so proud to have to go abegging AFTER THEY ALL ROBBED THE COUNTRY BLIND OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS…and got the nerve to tell herself that intelligent people are impressed….steuppsss.

    no use giving any of them the benefit of the doubt, they are all a waste of precious oxygen.

  20. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hal

    We now got BEST as in Survival no more BERT.

  21. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ John A

    It took a pandemic and a three-hour speech to dump BERT. We have been saying BERT could not work for nearly two years.

  22. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    How the mighty have fallen. Now, this existential threat, has put a lot of things into perspective. I swear, we should have a threat like this every once in a while, to jolt us from our slumber.

  23. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Reality is starting to kick in, but they still believe the usual sleight of hand and slick tricks will work, good luck with that in these revealing times..

  24. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hal

    Yes we have and although it took corona to make some realise it, at least change has come.

    All said I think the MOF did a decent job on what she laid out. I would of liked to have seen the banks tied to more guarantees to protect the vulnerable, but as she said this could well only be stage 1.

    Her figures seemed fair too. I had figured as I said earlier here, if we went on without addressing the issue we would of lost about $200M in additional tax income. Her figures were between $160M to $240M on the high side. All in all I would say she didn’t hide the facts.

    Of course the proof will be in the delivery now of the policies in a timely manner.

  25. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    The majority of what is proposed is in BERT or as a result of BERT. Housing programme, buses, planning gain, school repairs, Fairchild Street market upgrade, roads, new industrial policy, QEH upgrade, mains repair etc. Covid has allowed projects to be accelerated, that’s all. Imagine if there was no debt restructure? The one that was supposed to end in tears? Wuh I tell wunna y’day, look out for vacillation.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    BERT was dumped or is it a case of the pandemic necessitating a different economic plan. Try to be honest in debate if this is at all possible.

  27. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David.

    I would put it simply by saying the corona plan is everything the BERT plan was not. Bert was about austerity and this one is about stimulus.

    Simply put one was a brake pedal and the other an accelerator pedal.

  28. Bajan in NY Avatar
    Bajan in NY

    @John March 20, 2020 10:46 PM
    Simply put one was a brake pedal and the other an accelerator pedal.

    Are you saying Barbados is no longer in an IMF program?

  29. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Don’t care how wellintentioned the advice or how nicelyput, with or without the cuss wordsm those leaders never listen and could very well be walking around infecting everyone.

    “Alan Emptage

    I seldom get involved in Barbados governance and politics, for many reasons.

    First of all I don’t follow them closely enough to be deeply informed to the issues. The personalities involved, the sometimes extensive histories, the personal relationships all figure much more significantly in a country of 280,000 people where you’re lucky to have two degrees of separation, far less six, and zero is the norm amongst the political, professional and business elites.

    Secondly having a life that straddles Barbados and the US, I’m often not as directly affected by the consequences of many of the policy decisions that are being made.

    Thirdly, because of my public visibility, what I say may have a larger impact than your average citizen.

    So I keep my head down and and carry on.

    But this pandemic is probably going to be the most major disruption in our basic ways of life that any of us are going to experience.

    This virus affects the health and well-being of each and every one of us, our friends and our loved ones and so, even though this is not my area of expertise, I’m going to speak up here.

    First of all, I want to make clear that I truly believe that every one of our policy makers is absolutely acting in good faith and that they are sincerely trying to do their best and do what’s best for the country. They have been open and transparent and have been proactive in putting plans in place for an eventual, inevitable COVID outbreak on the island and they are to be commended for that.

    Personally, I believe that it’s highly likely that we already have community transmission of the virus in the island. Statistically it’s hard to see how we don’t and it would follow the pattern that we have seen so many other places, like Seattle where it spread under the radar for 6 weeks before anybody noticed.

    The fact that we are not testing on a large scale means that we are really blind to the true nature of the extent of the virus on the island.

    But even if we are, against all odds, lucky and it’s not here WE SHOULD BE ACTING AS IF IT IS. For one because it will come to that eventually and we had better get in the habit, and two because the consequences of assuming it’s not here and being wrong are vastly worse than assuming it is here and being wrong. Unfortunately it seems as many are indeed acting as if it really isn’t here, and circulating.

    Under these circumstances SOCIAL DISTANCING IS THE ONLY EFFECTIVE MEANS to slow the spread of the disease and prevent overwhelming our limited healthcare resources.

    Actions speak louder than words and I am very concerned that the powers-that-be are saying one thing and, by their acts doing another.

    For example, a few days ago the Ministry of Health proposed a physical meeting of all the teachers on the island in an auditorium. I don’t know the exact number of people, but let’s say 2,000. So while attempting encourage a message of “social distancing” they proposed a very large meeting in one place comprising of people who, by the very nature of their profession are in close physical contact with dozens, if not hundreds of others every day – who will then go back to their homes and spread anything they have picked up at school to their families. Exploding any transmissible virus in one easy step.

    This can only be called anti-Social Distancing on a large scale.

    Ultimately, due to pushback, the meeting was moved online, where it should have been in the first place. The very fact that a physical meeting was proposed demonstrates to me that the government hasn’t truly absorbed the message itself.

    A second example was just yesterday at the COVID update press conference. Once again not only were highest level members of the government packed into a small, enclosed space, but there were there with over a dozen members of the press.

    What if ONE PERSON in that room was infected? It’s not outside the realm of possibility. It would mean that the Prime Minister, the Chief Medical Officer, the head of the Port, the Minister of Tourism – all vital elements in the machinery to protect us against this pandemic – are now potentially infected.

    We have seen it in the governments of Iran, in the state of Georgia, in Brazil. How many warnings are we going to ignore?

    Yes, I understand that having the major policy makers show solidarity up on stage is very important to provide reassurance.

    But other than those technicians essential to the broadcast, there was NO need to have the members of the press – or anybody else – personally present. They could have just as easily asked their questions over the phone or video conference.

    It is VITAL that we take social distancing seriously if we are to avoid the mistakes of Italy, Spain and the others who are going through pandemic hell right now.

    This disease requires us to rewrite the Social Contract of how we interact with each other. Hopefully temporarily, but certainly for the indefinite future.

    And those of us in the public eye have a profound responsibility to lead by example.

    That has to start at the top with the message that this is now our BEST HOPE for slowing the spread of this disease.”

  30. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    This is where Mia and i will always diverge….the PEOPLE WERE SUFFERING BEFORE COV-19, the current situation is just making it that much worse…. the suffering is really because of BERT…and PARTICULARLY because the treasury and pension fund WERE ROBBED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS….and because ya wont listen.

    so instead of running to IMF…crying buckets of crocodile tears….RELEASE THE GODDAMN MARIJUANA TO THE MAJORITY POPULATION…..instead of trying to lock the black population up because ya
    don’t like what they are saying, because ya like to criminalize and reduce ya own people to BEGGARS, because ya alwats want to see them as low paid slave workers in UK battling racism and struggling to survive or because ya dont want to see ya own people ..PROSPEROUS WEALTHY, FREE and INDEPENDENT of the minoriy parasites..

    ….ya had nearly 2 YEARS to find other even better and SAFER sources of income outside the dependency tourism to benefit the people and ya refused to even look for better ways….

    Ironically Covid is doing a damn fine job of exposing the government incompetence in the most important areas..

    ….ya successfully built the straw that will break the camel’s back.

  31. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    A true statementbthat we have been saying BEFORE Covid…but ya had countless opportunities to do right by the people and ya refused, you much prefer KEEP THEM IN BONDAGE…because ya made a contract that anyone can access….with the corrupt minorities to criminalize and lock them up.

    Don’t you think if alyuh did not TIEF SO MUCH…the island could never be in this so6rry state….with the people so HELPLESS…just how you want to keep them.

    “However, she quickly pointed out that “there is no glory in hitting targets and people are suffering”

    Adding that she expected about 60 per cent of the island to “carry the weight” in the medium term as the island continues to feel the economic impact of COVID-19, and with the hurricane season around the corner, Mottley said she already informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the country “can no longer run a six per cent primary surplus”.

    “Not with the level of suffering that is going to ensue or the implosion on our revenues that we are likely to see,” said Mottley.”

  32. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ John A

    The other radical departure has largely gone unnoticed, that is the decision to trade in the oil futures market. I have called for derivative trading for years, and to an audience who largely does not understand, it became like a foreign language.
    If the president has given the oil company the authority to trade in oil derivatives, why not all our key imports? Such a move will free up money (you do not have to pay for hedging immediately), allows us to plan our current account liabilities and that money can be used more usefully, for example, by establishing a balance sheet post office bank.
    As to BERT and BEST, it is best to ignore such silly arguments. You have rightly pointed out one was an austerity policy, the other a fiscal stimulus, two opposites.
    Amazingly, in the middle of a speech addressing a terrified nation, the president still talked about the BTMI marketing to the same old markets for more tourists. I have said she and her team do not understand the extent of the crisis, and that alone was proof. ||In case she does not understand, the coronavirus crisis will change the way we live from now on. It will not be business as usual, and that includes long-haul tourism.
    Importantly also is that the nation is not yet prepared for the coronavirus, as the Budget speech included allocations for equipment and facilities. There is still not a proper tasks force, apart from having the minister and the acting CMO preaching to the public, or more accurately relaying information got from the WHO and dredged from the CDC web site.
    The president even admitted that we have paid for, but not yet received, vital clothing and equipment. So, how about the our frontline workers: nurses who leave work to go shopping, travel on public transport, visit friends and relatives?
    Do we have epidemiologists working on the mathematical likelihood of contamination, or are we playing it by ear? Why have we not co-opted scientists (rather than doctors) on to the task force, people such as @Robert Lucas?
    Finally, the speech was too long and at key points rambling. She should have separated the pandemic response from the wider one on the Estimates. Thursday was when she should have addressed the coronavirus crisis.
    SAVE BARBADOS.

  33. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    They are not going to give up dependency tourism, they much prefer prop up and support the few who benefit from it in any meaningful way and the island never sees that real benefits anyway because it remains offshore..as we have been saying for years, it should be a side hustle only bringing in additional income to pay workers and overheads as it has always done..but NOT the main money earner because seeing that it was around for over 100 years and tiefing politicians aside…the island STILL CANNOT PAY IT’S BILLS ..neither can it EMPOWER THE MAJORITY POPULATION…..or the island would not be so structurally degraded and the population being very gradually but steadily reduced to poverty. All it really successfully does is keep the people IN BONDAGE.

    But if they think they are crying now…wait until they see what is about to unfold before their very eyes. These nations HAVE CUSHIONS and can print money at will, but that will never stop the collapse if they cant get Covid under control.

    Barbados governments made their beds now let them lay in it…..Mia LET GO THE MARIJUANA or feel the consequences..if it was just you parasites alone, i really wont care, but innocent people in every group on the island will pay the price and not only the Black population as you jackasses are hoping and praying.

    “Bank of America says the recession is already here: ‘Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed’
    PUBLISHED THU, MAR 19 2020 7:46 AM EDT
    UPDATED THU, MAR 19 2020 4:10 PM EDT
    Pippa Stevens
    @PIPPASTEVENS13
    SHARE
    KEY POINTS

    “We are officially declaring that the economy has fallen into a recession … joining the rest of the world, and it is a deep plunge,” Bank of America said in a note to clients Thursday.

    “Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed,” the firm added.

    Bank of America warned investors on Thursday that a coronavirus-induced recession is no longer avoidable — it’s already here.

    “We are officially declaring that the economy has fallen into a recession … joining the rest of the world, and it is a deep plunge,” Bank of America U.S. economist Michelle Meyer wrote in a note. “Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed.”

  34. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    The only valid option for the tourist trade in Barbados rests with the local natives. The international tourist trade is to all intent and purposes (99.999 percent) dead in the water. The hoteliers based in Barbados over the last twenty – thirty years have done there level best to block and discourage access to the beach to the locals; and have discouraged local entrepreneurs from making a living from the tourist industry.

    How ironic that an industry that has shown contempt to the majority population is now dependent on 250,000 darkies to keep them in business. Karma is a bitch!

  35. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    Well, well, well! Can you believe what I have just read!

    https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/244117/pdp-harsher-penalty-crimes-tourists

  36. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ TLSN

    It looks as if Weatherhead is a power-drunk Redleg. So a crime against a tourist is worse than one against a native person? A tourist’s (white?) life is more valuable than a native (black?) life.
    Is this a party policy, or just an idea from a demented mind? But this is Barbados and it is going back to our long social history. Just have a look at cricket, the nation’s favourite game, and the history of our leading clubs and you see the point I am making.

  37. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Will bet that all the long sweet talk about agriculture planning
    That most fiscal support would be given to the tourist section
    Reason being that govt would still be approaching the economic wheels of barbados economy out of fear and seeing tourism as a faster built in financial mechanism to creating jobs
    So yes stimulus pkgs are necessary
    But it would take a govt with great balls to give a bold faced measure of fiscal support long term to the agriculture industry in an extended global community which will still exist where the major players have already invested millions of dollars and food prices would remain cheaper than homegrown prices
    The experiment of having a global community attached to a food supply chains has failed but one can best believe that with proper planning within time all bets would be on as to which country within the northern hemisphere can be best relied upon in times of crisis for easily and available food supply which includes farming right now all eyes are on Mexico
    I belive that Caricom was given a window of opportunity to build and work hand in hand amongst itself building a reliable structure of goodwill and team work that can show the world that the Carribbean people can work together hand in hand and punch above its weight

  38. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Mariposa

    Well said. The other issue is allowing households to go back to raising their own poultry and animals – chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, sheep, etc. This will reduce our dependence on imported foodstuff and reduce our debt. Or do we still prefer buying our eggs from Massy’s?

  39. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Doctors in Italy are dying; the nation is importing doctors from Cuba (the very Cuba that the medical authorities in Barbados say are not properly trained and qualified).

  40. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Unless the Carribbean basin can find a way to work together as a economic group the basin would always find itself staring like deers in the headlight in times of crisis and always depending on the financial International agencies to show us the way forward
    BERT failure was inevitable it was only giving a hard push by Corona
    Fact being it was to top.loaded and fiscally grinding for a small nation
    The way forward will now be dependable on a mindset driven by morals and ethics and not political rules that have kept small nations divided
    One nation and a people inseparable a theme and a messages which hinges on how small nations come together dig themselves out of this crisis
    Mia long speech was a repeat of more of the same which was heard after 911

  41. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ bajan in NY

    We are still in an IMF program for sure but they have allowed us because of corona to ease the rate of austerity and instead implement what was always needed, which is a stimulus package. What the MOF outlined last night was a clear removal from the BERT approach to what is now a stimulus approach. If we can weather the outbreak and this package stays in place, we may well see growth in the future. Also if we do put agriculture on the front burner and the 700 acres of land are rushed into production, that too is a plus for us going forward.

  42. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hal

    I agree going to the derivatives with oil at $30 a barrel was a good move. Hopefully these savings will be passed on to us and not all used to prop up a revenue shortfall.

  43. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Heard a lot about rebuilding the agriculture sector and planting more food
    Barbados has gone down that road before and the talk of having a large labour force to deliver on the promise has always been the stumbling block
    Again on the reality of a shortage of food supply and the rebuilding of the agricultural sector
    The question which would be most asked where would barbados get the Labour force which can fast forward the agriculture sector in a timely fashion to supply the growing demand for food

  44. David Avatar
    David

    How about all those workers about to lose their jobs.

  45. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David.

    The hotel and restaurants along with related services will bear the brunt of the blow initially. That will be followed by the retail and service suppliers to the tourism industry.

    Our challenge will come because too much of our economic activity feeds off of tourism either directly or indirectly. The point the MOF mentioned last night about even after the virus we have to weather the lull that will be there before people start travelling, is also a vaild point. What she is saying is that even after the virus falls off we may have a period of time to wait until our occupancy rate returns. To be reasonable I believe we in this to December.

  46. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    Restating a position- what are the options to generate a level of GDP contribution to replace a weaning from tourism?

    >

  47. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Problem for Barbados is that after the pandemic ends, people will be supporting their own countries.

    There will be a few months of staycations and cross country vacations.

    Tourism in Barbados could be a “write off ” until 2021.

  48. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David.

    I see the first priority as the MOF package outlined is to support the loss in tourism revenue by stimulating more activity like agriculture. What we must aim to do is ease the effect of the fall in FX receipts from tourism by reducing our demand on FX for imported food items etc. The actual growth this year will probably be zero or minus say 2%. The question that this raises though is this. Is it better to have no growth and stimulate local agriculture and economic activity or to have growth of 1% based on import driven activity?

    Are we entering a new way of looking at growth based on how it is arrived at?

    Is 0.5% growth say driven by import substitution better than a 2% growth driven by importing foreign made goods? In other words is the 0.5% driven by local activity worth more to us as a people than the 2%, where mainly suppliers from China and other countries benefit?

    Just throwing out food for thought.

  49. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    Has anyone come up with a comprehensive plan to replace Tourism ?

  50. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    I have always been a supporter of ” Agriculture for food security “.

    I will leave it to others to suggest other ways to a sustainable prosperity for Barbados.

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