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COVID 19 Action Plan Coming Soon – All for One, One for ALL

On the 11 April 2020 Prime Minister Mia Mottley addressed the nation to update on COVID 19. One of the decisions made was to establish a Jobs and Investment Council that includes former ministers of Finance Arthur and Sinckler. She also promised to address Barbadians soon on what an economic plan for the country will look like.

COVID 19 is a pandemic which continues to stymie ALL the economies of the world.  Sensible individuals have to admit that it will take a herculean effort by ALL well being Barbadians to push start the economy.

The past is the past.

We are here now.

We have to dust off our backsides and look the future in the eye with conviction.

Let us join hands and show we care about Barbados.

“What need in the country now …“- Mia Mottley

 

380 responses to “COVID 19 Action Plan Coming Soon – All for One, One for ALL”

  1. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Enuff,

    You sell us old wine in new bottles. These are not investments that generate permanent growth, but simply necessary repairs to a run-down hospital and schools. “spreading the $$” means new debts, “long list at the NHC” means a bankrupt public enterprise. What you call “transformation” is the usual talk of politicians.

    If that’s all, the last international investor will soon not have to turn off the lights when he leaves the island because there is no electricity available anyway.

  2. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Enuff
    Construction is the main engine of corruption in Barbados, because there is no Contractor General, no anti corruption legislation, no access to information legislation, and a deep and pervasive culture of corruption in both political parties as well as throughout the private sector.

    Furthermore, the government is broke. This means that construction projects of public infrastructure rely entirely on piling up more debt. We are just barely started crawling out from under the mountain of debt that past mismanagement and corruption accumulated, but your recommendation is to pile on yet more debt.

    It is therefore frightening to hear you say that the post COVID economic strategy will prioritize construction unless we get the loooong promised legislative reforms first.

  3. John A Avatar
    John A

    Construction of what pray tell?

    The condo and private home market are today priced 40% off their highs with nothing selling and 2 years of inventory on hand.

    Wait don’t tell me Hotels! To put who in? Tourism will take a while to recover and only God knows what level it will recover to. In other words will our winter occupancy over the next 2 years linger around 60%? Those that think next winter will have full occupancy and be anywhere near winter 2020, smoking too much of something. Long after the virus has gone the economic fallout will still be present. In other words people trying to catch up on credit card payments etc. Has anybody who thinks construction will lead us out of this, heard the unemployment numbers for our major source markets like the UK? Where the hell wunna think those people will get money from to do Caribbean travel? Do some realise outside of January and February who we depend on to fill our rooms? The Simon Cowells of this world come here between Xmas and the 30th January. After that we live out the middle income crowd. You think we is Mustique?

    The PONZI days and false money like home equity loans done. The days of buying a house today in the USA for $200,000 and going back tomorrow for a home equity loan of $50,000 done. So anybody that feel that construction will lead us out of this, hasn’t a clue of the domestic or international economy. Construction is driven by demand, when you got 2 years inventory and you off prime pricing by 40% who taking up money to build more inventory?

    Look take a reality check and come again.

  4. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Hal Austin April 22, 2020 4:56 PM

    Dear Hal,

    Revaluation is an important point. The depreciation of the euro and GBP against the USD and therefore the BBD is very damaging to tourism. There is no reason at all for this appreciation of the BBD. Our productivity has not increased, quite the contrary.

    When I speak of devaluation, I do not mean a bottomless pit like in Jamaica and Guyana, but a moderate correction. We could try the level of the East Caribbean dollar first, or a basket of USD, EUR, GBP and Renminbi, which is cheaper than the current level.

  5. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ John A April 22, 2020 5:07 PM

    Enuff obviously wants to prepare us for the Hyatt project. I wouldn’t be surprised if the naive Dr Robinson turns on an ATM called NIS to finance it. After all, he has already delivered his journeyman’s piece with Apes Hill Plantation.

  6. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ peterlawrencethompson April 22, 2020 5:04 PM

    If now necessary repairs to dilapidated state real estate are to be the salvation, only prayer will help.

    We are doomed.

  7. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Hal
    The question is: are going to accept that the post CONVID -19 economy has turned the global economy upside down. We can no longer engage as if nothing has changed. I don’t think that the having a basket of currencies at our disposal is a necessarily bad idea; the question is whether we need it.
    We are at one with the need to instill a higher level of ethics etc. Do not forget that I proposed a massive infrastructural idea on BU about two or so years ago, and you were highly complimentary.
    In terms of devaluation , I stand firm that it is not necessary or needed at this time.
    On really securing the gains made by the working class, I would propose a radical land use policy .

  8. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Tron

    Our NIS will be in no position to finance any such ventures. They will probably need a substantial loan from central government to finance the unemployment claims and loss of NIS contributions from those laid off.

    In the past remember we repaid loans with worthless paper bonds in the Chris Printorama period, but this time the NIS will need hard cash to meet the claims. After all you can’t give Mr Brown a bond to carry to Carlton Supermarket. This crisis therefore can not be hidden by slide of hand as it will require cold hard cash. So the golden question is when you subtract the useless paper held by the NIS what are their true net liquid assets really?

    Interesting days ahead.

  9. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Tron

    Your comedy masks a good economic brain. I am sure behind the silly name is a good thinker. The US dollar is overvalued, thus, the Bajan is over-valued. We cannot on the one hand have an austerity programme, while at the same time have an overvalued currency. Our economic managers are playing blind hands with their fingers crossed. Trump is weaponizing the Greenback in a bogus trade war with China and we are drowning in the slip stream.
    The solution for the post CoVid-i9 medical/health crisis, followed by a food crisis, which we are already experiencing, followed by a supply side crisis, will take a fiscal solution – unlike the 2008 banking crisis which was settled through monetary tools..
    But with 81 per cent of hotel workers redundant and 87 per cent of hotels closed, no doubt the minister, Kerrie Symmonds, is a bit concerned and the BTHA is in a panic. Now is the time for creative disruption.
    What the president needs to hear on the economic front is not views justifying her pet schemes, but a wide, open national debate aimed at rescuing the nation. That, sadly, is not our political tradition.
    Even calling our leader a president (and her style of leadership is presidential and not prime ministerial) brings out her defenders like verbal warriors.
    @Tron, I am not talking about re-inventing the wheel. We have an old dry dock moth-balled for nearly 40 years. Why can’t we dust it off and get I working? The answer is that the lawyers and economists who run the country cannot see how we can make that work.
    We once had a thriving shrimp industry and as far as I know people are still eating shrimp. Why can’t we kick start it again?
    Our only world class product, rum: why can’t we legally define Barbadian (Bajan) rum, create an academy, and set about making our rum the equivalent of Scotch Whisky? The answer is that our business and political leaders do not have the imagination.
    But even the industries they pretend to like they do not understand: mortgages, insurance, banking. What has happened to the Diaspora conferences the DLP used to have every two years? It seems the president has got rid of them. Some Barbadians (and people of Barbadian heritage) working in local government in the UK manage budgets bigger not only than individual ministries in Barbados, but the entire government budget. Why can’t we talk to them.

  10. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Hal
    Thank you for that substantive contribution.

    I agree that it makes sense to decouple Baja’s currency from the Yankee dollar and fix it against a basket of currencies and commodities as you suggest. The key is that it should be fixed to something(s) of scale and substance in the global economy; it should not float like the Jamaican dollar does.

    I am not enamored of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) as an analytical framework to understand economic development in small island developing states because it fails to conceptualize the economy as embedded in society and consisting of the household sector, commons sector, market sector, and state sector. MMT seems to me to predominantly pay attention to only part of the state’s role in regulating only part of the market sector. As you can tell I’m more of a fan of Kate Raworth’s work.

    I am intrigued by your suggestion that it be illegal to accept US dollars as currency in retail premises. I have a US dollar account in Barbados into which I deposit payments from overseas clients; what rules should apply to me? These clients cannot pay me in Baja currency. Should I be obligated to convert it into Baja’s dollars as soon as I’m paid?

  11. Lest we forget Avatar
    Lest we forget

    The Minister of Tourism said that through out generosity we may benefit form hosting the stranded cruise ships.
    Well he can ask Royal Caribbean cruise line to build a deep water jetty at Trevor’s way to host their Oasis Class ships like Harmony of the Sea and Symphony of the Sea which bring 6000 passengers plus 2500 workers per trip. We can then benefit like Bahamas, St. Marten and Jamaica from these visits.
    I think there was a proposal for cruise port at that site.

  12. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ William

    We are not in as bad a state as the weak president is suggesting. For example, I will reform the national insurance and pension scheme, simplify it and make it compulsory. I mentioned this years ago in one of my Notes.
    I will use the age of 45 as a cut-off point (giving a working life of 22 more years), establish a defined contribution fund for all 16-44 year olds, and steadily de-risk the post 45 years olds, starting with over 70s, taking that long-term obligation off the balance sheet.
    And we can focus on the growing middle class, all those young professionals who aspire to a certain lifestyle. China can get a good example. Pension funds will become a source of investments.
    The US has a total population of about 350m, while China has a growing middle class of about the same size. So, China can continue to develop through endogenous growth, something the US cannot. We are not as big as some villages in China, but we can grow without the over-dependence on so-called foreign reserves.

  13. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    I am looking at St. Lucia’s data on the Johns Hopkins site:

    https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

    and it looks very good. 15 confirmed cases, 15 recoveries, and no new cases since April 3, that is no new cases in 19 days. It looks like the curve can be flattened, and it looks like St. Lucia has done so.

    So far, so good.

  14. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Lest we forget April 22, 2020 5:44 PM
    The cruise ship industry is dead. The vessels are floating petri dishes for cultivating pandemics. It’s over. Fini. Kaput. Gone. It’s not coming back. Ever. Royal Caribbean is in enough trouble trying to bail itself out as it goes around trying to extort bailout money from various governments.

  15. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ PLT

    You are safe. Your dollar account is well protected. I am talking about retail shopping the routine paying of a taxi, or shopping at Massy’s or dining at Champer’s or shopping in Broad/Swan Streets. Ban it and make it illegal. Control it. It is a back door for moneylaunderers. Let the Bajan be the only legal tender in Barbados.
    Tell you a story. One year I was staying on Paradise Island in Nassau and just could not get hold of local money. Until I demanded it. The hotel staff thought |\I was rather strange.
    What convinced them that I really was strange was when I asked where they went for Saturday night entertainment. They gave me a long list of tourist venues and I stopped them and asked where THEY went on Saturday nights. They clearly thought who is this guy who wants to hang out with local people? He must be odd.
    As islands we have more to offer than artificial tourist spots. We have had this discussion before about the difference in needs b between UK and US tourists.
    A Brit will go to St Lawrence Gap and drink and get drunk, or to Oistin’s; the yanks want something more fitting for a tourist. Shape our tourism product to suit the market.

  16. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Hal Austin April 22, 2020 5:35 PM
    “We have an old dry dock moth-balled for nearly 40 years. Why can’t we dust it off and get I working?”
    +++++++++++++++++++
    I’ve taken a look at it. It is very deeply corroded to the point that it will take complete remanufacture to get it into operational shape, not dusting off.

  17. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David Bu

    In a backhand manner John indicated the economic structure and the society after the Cholera Epidemic resumed where it left off without missing a beat. He even indicated that there was growth. I have no intentions of verifying his findings.

    From the discussions here when you asked fellow bloggers to re-imagine a post COVID-19 Economy and Society you got the same old same old palaver. Is this indicative of the post COVID-19 Economy and Society? Man, we are on the way to wasting this disruptive opportunity. LoL!!

  18. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @John A, Hal, PLT et al

    In our view, our proposals are rational, be it because they focus on the common good, development policy, the economy or finance.

    But every government in Barbados since 1966 has followed a very different logic. This logic follows two factors: the choice of the voters at the ballot box and the sponsors of the politicians.

    This connection has long been known in behavioural economics.

    That is why Enuff has sold us the repair of centuries-old state property as a rescue plan. Of course the voters will be happy if the hospital is repainted. Of course, the true lords of Barbados, i.e. Baloney and the Williams brothers, will be happy about building contracts. For the same reason so many SUVs with high gas consumption are clogging up the roads. Because it benefits Lord Kyffin.

    But the logic of the ballot box and of the sponsors does not lead to sustainable economic growth. Otherwise our GDP today would be higher than Singapore’s. There, in the quasi-dictatorship, politicians do not have to consider the ballot box or sponsors.

    Maybe it would be a solution (not meant seriously, of course) ro suspend the parliamentary elections until 2030 and that the taxpayers pays all politicians a big villa with a swimming pool and two BMW or Mercedes as their salary. Then our politicians would be free for the first time to really govern.

  19. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Hal Austin April 22, 2020 5:35 PM
    “We once had a thriving shrimp industry and as far as I know people are still eating shrimp. Why can’t we kick start it again?”
    +++++++++++++
    We used to catch the shrimp in waters off the South American coast (Guyana, Surinam, Brazil) and they no longer allow is to fish in their EEZ as they used to.

  20. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ William Skinner April 22, 2020 4:12 PM

    Are you implying that Barbados should consider the abandonment of its current welfare state system?

    So how is the GoB in the interim (aka waiting for the grass to grow while the horse is starving) going to continue to pay salaries, make welfare transfers, etc unless it collects taxes from the private sector on a monthly and quarterly basis?

    What are you going to pay them with, buttons or IOU’s?

    Barbados does not have a fiat currency to back its printing of Mickey mouse monopoly money like America and the UK have with the greenback and ‘royal’ sterling.

    The IMF has taken control of the MoF and Central Bank Governor’s plaything.

    The private sector will be experiencing a significant falloff in transactional economic activities i.e. buying and selling of goods and services, mainly of the imported variety.

    How is the government going to make up for this shortfall in VAT revenues?

    It’s like West Indian cricketers expecting to be paid their usual big salaries when the amount of people watching them perform has drastically reduced.

    It’s a matter of cutting and contriving until things get back to your view of normality. Then labour and capital can rise to their real economic values.

    Your political friends in the duopoly (especially OSA) are directly responsible for the creation of the Bajan behemoth of a public sector in order to demonstrate their greed for power.

    Now they are saddled with the job of trimming the fat from the oversized carcass.

    PM Sandiford has been vindicated for his bold leadership role of cutting the public sector salaries in a time of economic crisis.
    Let us see who can walk in his Covid-infected shoes.

    “Who help yuh buy a big guts horse don’ help yuh feed it!”

  21. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Hal

    All you got to worry about is Goldie’s Conch House there! Lol

  22. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ John A April 22, 2020 5:25 PM

    Read: https://www.stlucianewsonline.com/no-pay-cuts-for-civil-servants-says-pm-chastanet/

    “There’s no cut that is being proposed,” he remarked. “We are paying the civil servants their salaries. We are paying the civil servants part in cash and PART IN BONDS.”

    Any questions?

  23. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @PLT

    Well start re-building it. We have allowed Antigua to take that trade from us. Fight back for it, show them we can compete, that we are not patsies.
    @PLT as a nation our young people cannot even cook. Look at how they queue up at Chefette. The barrier to entry in fast food restaurants is very low. You can buy second-hand equipment in the UK and set up shop for less than Bds$10000. Where are our local business people.
    It is a mindset. We have people who borrow money from banks and credit unions to take part in Crop Over.

  24. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Tron

    With our current ratings who in their right mind would accept a bajan bond?

    The problem is what the state needs now is access to cash. For example you lay off a worker with no savings and 4 children, what use is a bond to him? People need cash to pay their bills and feed their families. Worthless paper is pointless. The reality is none of us know how weak the NIS really is as they haven’t produced audited financials for years. All that now however is irrelevant, as all that matters now is what is their cash on hand as of April 22nd 2020.

  25. Lest we forget Avatar
    Lest we forget

    The cruise industry will bounce back by doing things differently.Covid-19 was a wake up call for the world and things will not be normal again for a long time but we cannot throw up or hands and give up.We will need tourism in the shot run

  26. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    PART II

    Psychological justification of reforms

    A devaluation in the sense of a basket of currencies would, according to my theory, have to appeal to the voters. Politicians have been telling them for 50 years that the peg to the USD is necessary. So the peg is a kind of national sanctuary for the voters. Politicians would have to sell this change as “strengthening” the peg and as “Peg 2.0”.

    But I don’t see how you can sell civil servants a pay cut or layoffs. This goes beyond the boldest euphemism in Barbados.

  27. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Tron
    It serves a purpose and it is still one of the largest sectors in the world. Secondly, it is easy to mobilise. This ain’t new wine in old skins, this ain’t even wine. You talking about devaluation as if the economy will head into orbit from simply devaluing the dollar. No voluntary devaluation will happen, so let’s get real.

    PLT
    Well hire a Contractor General!! Corruption is the problem not a construction industry that is structured to deliver enormous social and economic public benefits. As if only construction is open to corruption? Wuh ICBL ain’t even involved a paint job.🤣🤣

    David
    I await the government’s industrial policy. I hope maker space is flexible and varied, but also that other areas that we don’t consider industrial like a knowledge cluster to foster STEAM-driven research on products, processes, design etc are included.

  28. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @Hal Austin April 22, 2020 5:35 PM
    “… why can’t we legally define Barbadian (Bajan) rum…”
    ++++++++++++++
    There are four distillers on the island and three of them are urging the creation of a sensible geographical indication like those that exist for Scotch Whiskey or Bordeaux Wine. One company that is foreign owned has been sabotaging such a move because they export crap rum in tanks then ‘age’ it, adulterate it (add sugar and colour), and bottle it overseas but still want to call it Barbados Rum. It is as if you imported a tank full of plonk from Bordeaux, ‘aged’ it and then a few years later bottled it and attempted to sell it as appellation contrôlée Bordeaux wine.

    If you wish to know which distiller to boycott it is is the West Indies Rum Distillery Ltd. owned by the French company Maison Ferrand. Avoid all their brands: Cockspur, Malibu, Plantation, and others.

  29. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ John A April 22, 2020 6:14 PM

    One possibility would be to legally declare government securities as official currency. Well, we have to exempt the banks that were fleeced in 2018/19.

    That would be a “cold” devaluation, because even Chris Sinckler somewhere in his brain stem suspects that these are junk bonds.

  30. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @ Enuff
    And what about the anti corruption legislation and access to information legislation that we were promised would be this government’s FIRST order of business?????

    What about the investigations and charges filed against corrupt individuals that we were promised would follow immediately after the 2018 election?????

  31. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    FYI: Email just arrived in my inbox:

    Dear GreenMonkey,

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    First episode starts tonight at 9PM Barbados time.

  32. John Avatar
    John

    Silly Woman
    April 22, 2020 5:53 PM

    I am looking at St. Lucia’s data on the Johns Hopkins site:
    https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
    and it looks very good. 15 confirmed cases, 15 recoveries, and no new cases since April 3, that is no new cases in 19 days. It looks like the curve can be flattened, and it looks like St. Lucia has done so.
    So far, so good.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    It may just mean they stopped testing!!

    Someone there probably figured out it isn’t worth it.

  33. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ John A April 22, 2020 5:07 PM

    You are a man well endowed with the ‘rare’ double gifts of Commonsense and Reason.

    Here you- out of sheer national pride- are offering gratis what it will be taking a whole consortium of bullshitters to put in a report to be submitted to the current administration behaving like a row sitting ducks or hedgehogs crossing a freeway at night and expecting the vehicles to stop for their safety.

    We trust those handsomely paid to do a similar job of planning for the economic future of Bim are taking note of your invaluable and free advice.

    BTW, where have all the once garrulous gurus of airy-fairy economics paid advice and the highly rewarded consultants like Persaudie, Malik Mascoll and the ghostly principals of White Oats disappeared to?

    Hiding under the bed from fear of Covid?

  34. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Enuff April 22, 2020 6:20 PM

    Outsiders, who have great sympathy for BLP, cannot understand why the government has refused to implement fundamental reforms since 2018, for example in the fight against corruption or in the civil service. Since 2018, our government has been acting as fearfully as if it had a 16:14 majority. A government like ours has omnipotent power. With its 30-0 majority, it has the mandate to overturn the whole constitution.

    Could this be because the BLP grandees are at odds with each other?

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    How will the construction be funded?

  36. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Miller
    Freezing wages; reducing personal income taxes and others where possible. I never said I will done away with taxes. I don’t think we can justify reducing the corporation tax any further.
    Introducing a sales tax will balance the loss revenue from personal income taxes and along with other tax reductions will create a needed cash stimulus.
    The more money in circulation from direct consumer activity will strengthen the economy once the money in circulation is not being used to buy imported goods.
    Bear in mind that my position is a holistic approach to new economic policies post COVID-19.
    Note in my proposals I talk about a vibrant new thinking about cooperatives etc. We cannot go back to thinking of all the things that can go wrong; we must think about what we can do right.
    My model ,as far as taxes are concerned ,is to totally abolish personal income tax In twenty years.
    I have always believed that small economies properly managed can eliminate personal income tax.
    I would never support any model that excludes the need for the state to look after the most vulnerable.
    In our current economy, the sum of 60 million annually ,properly administered ,can attend to the needs of the most vulnerable. It is one area of the public bureaucracy that needs immediate trimming in terms of personnel.

  37. John A Avatar
    John A

    @Miller

    Thank you for your kind words. Regrettably though I can’t think like a politician nor do I like the fanfare like all these party loyalist like. The formula is a basic case of trying to offset a fall in tourism revenue with the saving of a similar value in foreign exchange in any way possible. All it boils down to really is a balancing act, the problem is do we have the backbone to do it or will we half do it and then try to borrow our way out of this too?

  38. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “It is therefore frightening to hear you say that the post COVID economic strategy will prioritize construction unless we get the loooong promised legislative reforms first.”

    Fowl is trying to sell snake oil, but only other fowls are buying, that was the intent but that got knocked out early o clock..

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    There is another variable to factor. The modification of consumer behaviour to ensure a sustainable way of life in the future.

  40. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @Peterlawrencethompson April 22, 2020 6:47 PM
    “@ Enuff
    And what about the anti corruption legislation and access to information legislation that we were promised would be this government’s FIRST order of business?????
    What about the investigations and charges filed against corrupt individuals that we were promised would follow immediately after the 2018 election?????”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Why have you, accidentally, chased Mr. ‘Had Enuff’ away from this blog?

    The fella can claim- as he always does when piercing questions are posed about the hypocrisy of the current administration- his Bajan right to the Fifth Amendment to deny any knowledge associated with his regular visits to the sanctum sanctorum of current policy decisions in Bim.

    PS:
    Enuff, why can’t you stand up, for once, and be an outside man instead of an inside mouse?
    Do you agree that the money owed to the Treasury on the luxury automobile currently driven by that Malmoney ghost Hyatt scam fella would go a long way in helping those laid off from the real hotel sector as a result of Covid and in dire need of a daily meal?

  41. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    Time will tell.

  42. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ DAVID

    they will have no choice as it will be our economic reality.

  43. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ David April 22, 2020 7:21 PM
    “@Enuff
    How will the construction be funded?”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    LOL!!!

    That’s like asking Enuff how the Hyatt hotel would have been funded 3 months ago!

    Project funding is not part of his bailiwick or area of expertise; only planning permission to undertake project construction.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    The hope is for the economic planners to factor this reality in the COVID Plan.

  45. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    As bad as COVID-19 is so far. Deaths per 100,000 of population:

    San Marino 118.40 deaths per 100,000 people
    Belgium 52.51
    Andorra 48.05
    Spain 45.55
    Italy 40.79
    France 31.09
    United Kingdom 26.14
    Netherlands 22.80
    Switzerland 17.35
    Sweden 17.33
    Ireland 15.04
    United States 13.71
    Luxembourg 12.83

    Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

  46. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    I have put together what will probably come out of the COVID hunger council (these are NOT MY suggestions, but suggestions that I suspect Sinckler and the other consultants are hatching):

    Taxpayer subsidy for new hotels like Hyatt
    Completion of building ruins such as Four Season at the taxpayer’s expense
    New government buildings for the prime ministers and 10 other ministries
    Renovation of the hospital
    Renovation of schools

    A 50 percent increase in property tax for properties over $1 million
    Increase of the fuel tax by 1 BBD per litre
    Increase in value added tax to 25 percent
    Increase of taxes on tourists to 50 USD per tourist per night
    Increase of the air ticket tax to 100 BBD
    Increase of the user fee for water and the like

    Announcement of anti-corruption legislation for 2024
    Announcement of a Freedom of Information Act for 2024
    Announcement of a reform for state enterprises and the civil service for 2030

    10 per cent increase in civil servants’ salaries to appease the native masses

    Have I forgotten any more idiotic measures?

  47. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    What percentage of those who got COVID-19 have died? By country:

    Belgium 14.6%
    Algeria 13.9%
    Bahamas 13.8%
    Italy 13.4%
    United Kingdom 13.4%
    France 13.1%
    Antigua 13.0%
    Sweden 11.5%
    Netherlands 11.4%
    Sudan 11.2%
    Zimbabwe 10.7%
    Guyana 10.6%
    Hungary 10.2%

  48. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Given the total incapacity of all government economic advisors since 2008, I am beginning to wonder how many pregnant women were actually infected by the Zika virus between 1950 and 1970.

  49. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    The problem is that I doubt any there will be able to estimate the level of the fallout as there is no rule book to work with here.

    I would much prefer to see the PM give them a agenda as I outlined earlier and tell them make this happen. This can not be another talk shop, but rather a precisely targeted plan that must be implemented in the quickest timeframe possible.

    Let’s be honest how much you think we will lose between April and August alone in tourism receipts, based on empty hotels and no Cropover?

    Time is of the essence here.

  50. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Do you believe in Santa Claus?

    Lack of decision-making and talking around the hot potato is part of the national culture. The Council will be in session for months. After that there will be some tax cuts and double tax increases, which the naive masses in their simplicity do not notice anyway, coupled with a new IMF programme and even higher national debt. In the end, the native establishment will again approach the foreign private banks to beg for help in the form of haircuts.

    It has always been like this. The South cannot govern itself. Independence was a huge mistake. In the end, Barrow and the DLP are to blame for it all. They led Barbados into independence against all warnings. So far, almost all the former colonies have failed. Seems to be some kind of law of nature, or divine will.

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