During the last decade the BU blogmaster has not had the opportunity to highlight our prime ministers performing on the world stage/media. The election of Prime Minister Mia Mottley has corrected the problem.
Today (2020-04-29) many Barbadians took pause at 2PM EST to watch Mottley with her usual oratory and unrestrained flair participate an interview with the world renown journalist Christian Amanpour.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
As you all know, I am always extremely impartial and neutral.
So in my opinion, in Barbados we don’t need to spend money on international advertising in the future. We have a Prime who advertises at prime time for free.
Why should she bother with annoying details in a little constitution that has long been out of force. Our Prime’s stage is the globe when she brings peace to Eldorado aka Guyana and explains to the Americans how to successfully combat the Wuhan plague.
Was Freundel interviewed by the Financial Times?
Yall so full of shit, so easily misled, everyone and his cousin has seen Amanpour interview tens of thousands of people from all corners of the globe, i have not watched a CNN interview in years, this one is definitely not worth my time.
Netflix got some kickass movies…
Our PM’S Focus with Amanpour’s Intervew was the Importance of ONE WORLD GOVERNANCE…
She is All in for The UN and the WHO and Giving Up Barbados Sovereignty!
UN GLOBALIST NEW WORLD AGENDA…
Gutters… What an Appropriate name… “The Paris Agreement was largely made possible by the engagement of the United States and China,” Guterres said. “Without the contribution of the BIG EMITTERS, all our efforts will be doomed.” (BY the Contribution Gutters means ROB America!) The UN’s Bottom Line is $$$$…
THEIR INTENT ….UN Chief Says Pandemic Must Be Used To Deindustrialize the West, Transition To Green Energy…‘We have a rare and short window of opportunity to rebuild our world for the better,’ he says (he means in his Vision).
April 28, 2020
The head of the United Nations called for global leaders to “use the pandemic recovery” to roll out their global climate change agenda, including ALLOWING FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES TO COLLAPSE AND USING TAXPAYER STIMULUS MONEY TO FUND GREEN JOBS (after Collapsing Half of the World and NO JOBS).
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said during the Petersberg Virtual Dialogue, a two-day international conference on global warming, in Berlin, Germany that the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic presents a “RARE AND SHORT WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY” TO ACCELERATE THEIR GLOBALIST 2030 AGENDA PROJECT. (And PM M.A.M ALL IN WITH THAT!)
“It has exposed the fragility of our societies and economies to shocks,” Guterres said Tuesday, adding that “the only answer is brave, visionary and collaborative leadership.”( Gutters does not look to where it comes from or who did it, he does not Care, it is their Friends, All that Matters is to Sock it to the people using sweet words.)
That same Verbiage was Spouted by our PM…SORRY BUT FREEDOM IS ALLERGIC TO COMMUNISM!!
Unless our PM tows the UN Line and Touts their Gobbledygook, she will not get their Funding… Freedom has Expressed many times that the Climate Propaganda it’s about Global Taxation…They will Tax the Sunlight and the Very Air you Breathe…AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE PROPOSING!!
U.S. LEADS WORLD IN DECREASING CO2 EMISSIONS
Trump once again proves his climate critics wrong after pulling out of Paris Agreement.
Thomas Gallatin · Feb. 13, 2020
When President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the DUBIOUS Paris Agreement in June 2017, climate activists, world leaders, and the Democrat Media Complex immediately protested, declaring that the Trump administration was signaling its intention to increase CO2 emissions. Fast-forward to Tuesday’s report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) evaluating CO2 emissions around the globe. Lo and behold, the U.S. led the world in 2019 for “the largest decline in energy-related CO2 emissions.” The IEA’s report further noted that “US emissions are now down almost 1 Gt [gross tonnage] from their peak in the year 2000, the largest absolute decline by any country over that period.”
In fact, far from the dire predictions since Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. has not only continued its trend of decreasing CO2 emissions but increased the rate of the decrease. The primary cause for this precipitous decline is not due to more government regulation; rather it has everything to do with the government getting out of the way of innovation brought on by capitalistic enterprise.
Furthermore, the dubious Paris Agreement seems to have HAD LITTLE EFFECT ON REINING IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST CO2-EMITTING COUNTRY, CHINA, which remains a signatory. As The Daily Wire observes, “The IEA noted that 80% of the increase in CO2 emissions came from ASIA AND THAT CHINA AND INDIA both contributed significantly to the increase.”
IT’S CLEAR THE LEFTIST AGENDA HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH PUSHING CONTROL OVER THE POPULACE by telling you How to Live, Where to Live, What to Eat, What Beliefs you should have, Tagging Every Person In the World, How much you should Own, What Rights you Should have, Who would be Entitled to those Rights, Controlling who Should receive Health Services based on the Future Potential Contributions, Control of the amount of the Population in the World Through Socialism and saying they are going to Save the World from Climate Catastrophe. They can Tell with a Certainty what the Temperature will be like in 50 years to within ½ a Degree yet they Cannot tell what the Temperature will be one week from today!
MADEMOISELLE PM YOU ARE BACKING THE WRONG HORSE, YOU COME AND FOUND BARBADOS A SOVEREIGN NATION…LEF IT SO!!!
.
A critique of the interview in simple language, the PM represented the region well which was her intention. She spoke abot the challenges of the region which included Barbados.
Well done!
I wished that she had mentioned the need food security and appealed for the food that is being thrown away or ploughed back into the ground in the US.
@Heather
The interview was tight for time and affected by an unstable connection. At a high level she throughout a request to the international world to assist the region given our vulnerability.
>
While the fowls are being shallow and trifling and drooling to kiss ass…there has been another covid death…think on that…
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/245268/barbados-records-covid-19-death
I would say she did Barbados proud. She certainly outdoes a couple presidents in the hemisphere. She’ll be the best thing that has happened to the SIDS in a long time.
The regioin is getting help, even IMF pitched in too, I saw the article today, she is looking for attention, she is getting all the help she needs, as well as the other island….
.. need to stop playing for an audience and make sure the people are FINALLY ALLOWED TO GROW WEALTH in the communities instead of generational POVERTY….AND ….instead of the constant disenfranchisement and thefts from generations of the majority population engineered by all of them……
The ministers of these islands have to do some work too…they have neglected all the people in one form or another over the decades and always act as though it’s someone else’s fault, they always do the bare minimum and then act as though it’s all about them and their greed…
they would not have found themselves in these vulnerable positions if they would stop stealing from the treasuries and pension funds AND WORK FOR THE PEOPLE AND NOT FOR THEMSELVES……..no one owes corrupt governments anything.
@ Poorpeace
Did she say anything that could not have been said on CBC? Was what she said relevant to the immediacy of the crisis facing Barbados? Is she the spokesperson for the South Pacific islands? Is she now fit enough to return to work? What was the purpose of the interview?
I CAN’T BELIEVE THE AUDACITY AND HYPOCRISY OF SOME OF THE BAJAN IDIOTS WHO SEEK TO CONSTANTLY BASH THE US.
ISN’T CNN A MAJOR US NETWORK?
@ Hal YOU ARE RIGHT MIA SHOULD STICK TO CBC WHERE SHE CAN CONTINUE TO MONOPOLIZE AND FOOL THE LOCALS.
AMERICANS AND OTHER FOREIGNERS AREN’T COMING FLOCKING BACK TO BARBADOS NO TIME SOON.
INSTEAD OF DEALING WITH AGRICULTURE AND OTHER MORE SHORT TERM SOLUTIONS THESE LAWYER CRIMINALS ONLY KNOW WHAT TO DO BEG, BEG AND BORROW.
EASIER TO STEAL AND FLEECE CLIENTS WHILST DECEIVING THE BARBADOS PUBLIC FOR VOTES EVERY 5 YEARS THAN IT IS TO IMPLEMENT CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE BETTERMENT OF THE LOCAL MASSES,
THE EMPRESS MIA HAS ON NO CLOTHES AND IS NAKED AND OVERWEIGHT.
She responded to an invitation for an interview with a CNN international reporter. So she should have declined !! Get real or at least get out of the way. She put us on the map, big shot !!
You lack the sensitivity to appreciate the intangibles. The ability of any leader of a country to act in a way that swells the bosoms of citizens with pride is priceless. If you do not understand take Trump as an example and how he does the opposite.
WURA-War-on-U and Hal Austin I most certainly feel your pain,
it must be torturous to know that the PM represented the region in such a noble manner while you two continue on your path of frivolity.
Sad
Poor Austin trying his utmost to pull down one of the highly rated leaders of our time not only by bajans but international people..Hear him was Freundel interview by the financial times?What kind of jackass could you be to mention Mr Stuart in the same breath as Ms Mottley? Mr Stuart did not even like to address bajans in my view far less do interviews..Therefore all you petty talk about waving arms and talking waffle shows you are a political nuisance and not worth taking on.Stick to Ms Bradshaw mosr bajans sticking with Ms Mottley.To Ms Mottley you have once again done us proud and wishing you a speedy recovery.
“ISN’T CNN A MAJOR US NETWORK?”
that’s the new negros, bash the US and then feel PROUD to be seen on CNN…..lol
It’s truly embarrassing…after DECADES of disenfranchising the people, DELIBERATELY keeping depressed areas in DRUGS, GUNS and CRIME…now got the nerve to act as though none of it ever happened…
…and still have no way FORWARD to ENFRANCHISE THE PEOPLE…still keeping the marijuana away from them, still bringing in foreign thieves to get wealthy off the backs of the majority…where is the progress….next month is 2 years already..
TIEF FROM THE PEOPLE…THEN beg, beg, beg, borrow, borrow, borrow…then look for ways to blame it all on the big countries, on the people or on everyone else…..BORING…
“WURA-War-on-U and Hal Austin I most certainly feel your pain,”
you call it pain, i call it NOT EVERYONE HAVING the attention span and memory of a GOLDFISH…..and i understand that even goldfish can be trained, sadly, can’t say the same for you…..
not everyone is IMPRESSED BY THE MEDIOCRE…and i sure as hell will not lower my standards now…
this might have been the first CNN interview you have seen, but i have seen too many to mention with more impressive people being interviewed, people who ACTUALLY DO GOOD FOR THEIR PEOPLE…and not just rob them and sell them out to the highest bidder…..
…wuh had not for the plague 50 Black slaves would have already left for UK this month to be brutalized and mistreated with racism……
yall are such repulsive frauds……
A quick and dirty review of feedback on FB, Insta and LinkedIn appear generally favorable.
RE…”The ability of any leader of a country to act in a way that swells the bosoms of citizens with pride is priceless.”..
https://pics.me.me/none-are-so-empty-as-those-who-are-full-of-29866492.png
Wait for it…
Wait for it…
The Prime Minister (Sk) will address the nation at 7PM this evening.
well done MAM. that is all i have to say about that
Trying another rabbit in the hat trick…will not change history, facts nor the truth…
How could any sensible, right-thinking and genuine PM speak about climate change and its impact on SIDS and behave as if they only exist in the Caribbean? It is called building consensus, more is more. Mind you the woman’s messsge had a common thread–global leadership and the need for a collective response to the pandemic and global issues. The ones quick to talk about the Bajan condition, repeatedly display traits of what many see as the BC–pulling down we own.
Meanwhile and worth hearing Antigua PM say he does not need IMF money
He will make a way out of no way
Btw what did Mia say
Pulling down ya own = SELLING YA PEOPLE OUT TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER…
Pulling down ya own =.helping minoritites STEAL YA PEOPLE’S ESTATES and ROBBING GENERATIONS OF THEIR BENEFICIARIES..
Pulling down ya own =.HELPING MINORITIES RIP OFF THE TREASURY AND PENSION FUND DECADE AFTER DECADE…so that taxpayers are ALWAYS shortchanged and pensioners and the DISLABLED ARE ALWAYS LIVING IN POVERTY….
Pulling down ya own = STEALING OPPORTUNITIES FROM GENERATIONS OF YA OWN PEOPLE DECADE AFTER DECADE AND GIVING IT AWAY TO TIEFING MINORITIES…for your CUT…
Pulling down ya own = SITTING on the Caricom Chair and talking about fighting imperialism, while secretly VOLUNTEERING to send 50 of ya own people to UK as slave labor for shite money where they will not survive the racism and brutality..
Pulling down ya own = COLLUDING with minorities to keep the depressed areas permanently depressed with drugs, guns and crime…
Pulling down ya own. = robbing the people who return from spending decades abroad, stealing their land, properties and bank accounts…
That is the TRUE DEFINITION of pulling down ya own so they can never prosper, while ya big up the crooks who HELPED YOU ROB AND PULL DOWN YA OWN…..with shite titles after ya helped them ROB YA OWN OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS…
Mia could really make a legacy for herself if she would charter a corporate jet (or beg Sir Kyffin to send one of his) to bring integrative medical practitioner Dr Robert Rowen MD to Barbados from California USA to demonstrate how to save our victims of the Covid-19 virus with cheap, safe and easily applied ozone therapy. However, it is likely she would have to stand up to an onslaught of bad publicity and calumny by the rich and powerful medical mafia (AKA Big Pharma) who are now salivating at the thought of the bazillions they will make selling government mandated Covid-19 vaccines worldwide to every living soul on planet Earth.
Dr. Rowen has already been to Sierra Leone in the midst of an Ebola outbreak to train medical technicians how to administer ozone therapy to Ebola patients and he has stated that he will go anywhere in the world to teach the benefits of ozone therapy against viral and bacterial infections and other illnesses. Unfortunately the government of Sierra Lione called a halt to the training of their technicians before the training was completed, but some of the technicians in a few cases were able to use their knowledge to treat successfully a handful of the Ebola infected cases. See: rexresearch(DOT)com/rowenebola/rowenozonebola.html for the story.
Here is Dr Michael J. Rowen MD’s latest post from earlier today:
Phenomenal Ozone Results from Italy. I believe that had our rulers and media not blacklisted ozone therapy, that the fear, mayhem and panic of this pandemic would have been over a month ago. The article Robins and I wrote that came out in early March would have alerted thoughtful consideration if we had a benevolent “health care” system instead of a profiting “disease maintenance” pHARMa system. Remember to follow the money trail, which, at the moment, is leading to vaccines.
And also know that Facebook is censoring me and my posts are not making it to your feed. This could be damaging to someone who might really benefit if sick. Am I labeled as “fake news’? Are the internet censors going to block out foreign research showing there is likely an answer to this disease? And in this country, those simply suggesting ozone as an actual treatment for the virus are prosecuted.
“THE RESULTS OF 73 PATIENTS TREATED WITH OXYGEN OXYGEN
The third report with the results relating to the use of oxygen ozone to treat Covid-19 patients confirms that ozone therapy is proving effective in eradicating coronavirus.
The Report was communicated by SIOOT (Scientific Society of Oxygen Ozone Therapy) and refers to 73 patients treated with oxygen ozone hospitalized at the Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, the San Carlo Clinic of Paderno Dugnano and the Hospital of Fidenza.
The hospitals in question practiced ozone oxygen according to the SIOOT treatment protocol, which was previously submitted to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
This is the first medical protocol proposed in Italy for the treatment of patients suffering from the Covid-19 virus.
There were 73 patients treated with oxygen ozone according to the SIOOT protocol, including 49 not intubated (less serious) and 24 intubated and in intensive care (and therefore in serious conditions).
The 49 non-intubated patients improved after practicing five sessions of oxygen ozone therapy. 10 of them have completely healed and have already been discharged after making two swabs that have failed.
Hence 100% of the less severe patients treated with oxygen ozone have reported beneficial effects. These are the registered medical parameters:
– improvement of the general conditions;
– normalization of body temperature;
– reduction of reactive Protein C (PCR);
– improvement of saturation and reduction of oxygen support;
– normalization of renal function (creatinine);
– increase in leukocytes;
– normalization of T lymphocyte levels, a sign of a significant immune response.
The 24 intubated patients (and therefore in serious conditions) presented the
following clinical outcomes after treatment with oxygen ozone:
– 17 improved significantly (71%);
– 15 have already been extubated (63%);
– 2 have improved but are still intubated (8%);
– 7 died (29%).
The 7 patients who had a poor outcome were in very serious conditions, with bacterial superinfection, septic shock, pulmonary embolism and myocarditis, to the point that it was not even possible to subject them to the complete cycle of
oxygen ozone.
More:https://www.facebook.com/DrRobertJRowen/posts/1264869197044412?tn=K-R
The original medical report that Dr. Rowen is quoting in his message is posted in Italian here (use Google translate to translate into English): orbisphera(DOT)org/Pages/PrimoPiano/2135/I_risultati_di_73_pazienti_curati_con_l%e2%80%99ossigeno_ozono
Oh did Mia make mention of cutting the salary of cabinet ministers
I read where St. Lucia cabinet was cutting salaries by 75 percent
These are examples which defines sincere leadership in times of crisis
Ain’t got no damn shame, everytime money is released to Barbados or any of the Caribbean islands…THERE IS A PRESS RELEASE by those who released the funds, but there they are on CNN BEGGING in broad daylight like if they did not get a dime.
..and let’s not talk bout the BILLIONS BEING BORROWED…after WRITING OFF a BILLION DOLLARS IN VAT FOR THEIR TIEFING, CROOKED FRIENDS……
If yall did not TIEF SO MANY BILLIONS of the people’s money over the decades and OFFSHORED IT ALL…ya won’t be BEGGING AND BEGGING NOW….
shameful that the short memory, short attention span RETARDS for fowls …can remember none of that…
OMG! Are we still so immature and insecure that we are happy just to have our presence on the globe recognised? I thought Rihanna had cured that incredulous feeling! My teenaged son takes these things for granted. Are we his elders still impressed by a short, surface interview on CNN in which the PM said no more than I would have said and no more than many of us have said here in this forum? It is good that she scored the interview to highlight the unfairness of the WTO regulations, the post 911 regulations and the fact that the developing nations have rigged everything to benefit themselves after being developed by the free labour of our fore-parents in the first place. (Shridath Ramphaul tried valiantly in similar vein.) It is also good that she emphasized that ultimately their greed does not really work to their advantage.
The interview was short and did not allow for any details that would have made a lasting impression on anyone who was not already aware of our circumstances. Having said that, she needs to get together with all the SIDS who have been affected in the same ways and fight without apology for a change. However, we must focus less on borrowing and more on increasing productivity, co-operation and financial prudence among our people.
And yes, corruption needs to be addressed IN A MEANINGFUL WAY because it is that which retards our progress above all else. She must be seen to be serious about cleaning up our mess if she wants to lead our people in the right direction. I hope and pray that the reality has become apparent to her.
LEADERSHIP BEGINS AT HOME!
Leadership begins everywhere.
@David, I am amused by your “A quick and dirty review of feedback on FB, Insta and LinkedIn appear generally favorable.”
That is NOT news, I humbly offer.
It would have been SHOCKINGLY SCANDLOUS if Ms Mottley had gone on that media platform and NOT performed very well.
THAT would have been the ‘man bites dog’ news of year…. surely then we would say she ‘real sick doh’.
Ms Mottley is one of the BEST orators of her political generation bar none (across the region) and frankly when matched across genarations to Barrow, Adams, Arthur, Manley etc and stars like Blackman et al she in my view still rates in top three (more photogenic than most of them too) and she is NOT prone to stupid verbal gaffes.
Would we not have expected Tom, as an example, to knock any interview out-of-the-park… She is as good – and in many ways even ‘better’ – as he was at publicity.
So although the fawning is understandable in these moments of nothingness … Just as we fawned over the other PMs back in the day (not so much now it seems) when they made their obligatory UN gen assembly speech or otherwise hit the limelight of international publicity… I am deeply amused by this .
And with you more nuanced and experienced folks here acting as if ONE (or even a few more) lovely interview actually translates to some continuous tangible benefits … that’s a shocker to me.
But anyhow … whatever gets us enthused should be encouraged I imagine.
Thus all hail the PM.
https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/COVID-Lending-Tracker
Don’t ask me why Barbados is not there on the list of Western Countries that got emergency relief,, but i would guess, since Ms. Fighting Immperialism has been borrowing from IMF and everyone else in between FOR TWO STRAIGHT YEARS…while paying million dollar consultants to do squat, shit must have happened..
…..no PROGRESS FOR THE PEOPLE…while she waits for them to FORGET that she REFUSES TO RELEASE THE MARIJUANA…and will continue to feed them a long line of bullshit while criminalizing them and their children STILL for the plant in this day and age..
“However, we must focus less on borrowing and more on increasing productivity, co-operation and financial prudence among our people.”
tunnel vision, only FOCUSED on borrowing and begging, sounds more like she was on a mission to see what she could get for the local thieves, much more so than anything to do with productivity, co-operation or commonsense…..to UPLIFT THE PEOPLE…
…nothing productive to GENERATE PROGRESS OR WEALTH FOR THE PEOPLE …who elected them…..it’s like they only see the people as WARM BODIES..captured and to be used for their borrowing and begging sprees, NOTHING ELSE…
the fowls can let me know when something PROACTIVE ACTUALLY HAPPENS…
Looks like the PM is coming up with the plan I told my son about a few weeks ago! I never thought it could happen. Send the less vulnerable out to work and keep the vulnerable separated etc.
No, David! Leadership MUST begin at home. She is our prime minister first and foremost and must prove herself capable HERE first if she wants to be taken seriously elsewhere. Seriously, I don’t know how you can dispute that.
@David, if the video clip was from the Barbados end, there was an opportunity that was missed. The whole world saw the lines and did not know what they were for. However I agree the interview was brief and everything could not have been mentioned given the interviewers focus.
Are you saying she has not demonstrated some leadership at home since taking office? There will always be room for improvement.
@Heather
The PM is currently addressing food security as we type these comments.
Borrowing is Not an Option for Caribbean Countries, Access to Concessional Funding and Debt Relief is Urgently Needed to Face the COVID-19 Crisis
Caribbean Heads of State and Finance Ministers met with ECLAC’s Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena, to analyze debt relief proposals and other measures to fight the effects of the pandemic.
(April 29, 2020) Prime Ministers, Premiers, Finance Ministers, Financial Secretaries, and other high-level government representatives from 15 Caribbean countries held yesterday a virtual meeting with ECLAC, heads of Caribbean regional organizations and representatives of other UN agencies in the subregion to discuss the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economies, already besieged by both climatic and economic shocks, including heavy heavy indebtedness and high exposure to natural disasters.
The videoconference was presided over by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), who connected with Heads of State and senior financial decision-makers from ECLAC’s Member Countries and Associate Members in the Caribbean area: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago and United States Virgin Islands. The meeting was also attended by United Nations’ resident coordinators in the subregion, representatives from other UN System entities such including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) as well as regional intergovernmental organizations including the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF), the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company (CCRIF SPC) and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
Alicia Bárcena was accompanied by the Director of ECLAC’s Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean in Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Diane Quarless, who moderated the dialogue, and other ECLAC experts from that office, including the Director of the Economic Development Division, Daniel Titelman from the Commission’s Headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
At the event, Alicia Bárcena stressed that Caribbean countries must increase their fiscal space and need more favorable financing conditions, notwithstanding their income per capita income levels, in order to face the pandemic’s effects. “Considered as middle or high income countries, Caribbean countries face a lack of access to liquidity on concessional terms”, Bárcena pointed out. “This is why policy proposals to support economic recovery with a people-centered approach are urgently needed”, she added.
Among the Prime Ministers and Premiers attending were the Honourable Gaston Browne, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Corporate Governance of Antigua and Barbuda; the Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, Investment, Planning, Resilience, Sustainable Development, Telecommunications and Broadcasting of Dominica; the Honourable K. Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Bahamas; the Honourable Andrew A. Fahie, Premier and Minister of Finance of the British Virgin Islands; and the Honourable Easton Taylor Farrell, Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economic Development, Trade, Tourism and Culture of Montserrat.
All of them expressed concern at the highly vulnerable economic situation that the countries of the subregion were currently facing and urged ECLAC’s support of their advocacy in engagement with the international community for better access to grants and concessional financing, given their inability to service debt payments in the current circumstances. In the words of Prime Minister Gaston Browne, “the economic burden for our countries has been unsustainable because of the high levels of debt. We don’t have the capacity for printing money and our policy instruments are very limited. What is required at this point is some level of support from international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. ECLAC can help us advocate and raise its voice for us”, he declared.
Describing innovative ways by which concessional financial assistance might be extended to Caribbean economies, he proposed that consideration be given to having credit extended to countries which have already invested in green technology. This he suggested could be applied through debt relief. He informed the meeting that Antigua and Barbuda was already exploring this option.
The Honourable Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Finance , Economic Planning, Sustainable Development and Information Technology of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, identified the IMF Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) as an important mechanism which typically offered timely liquidity support free of conditionalities. He urged ECLAC support in promoting new financing instruments for the Small Vulnerable Economies of the Caribbean, and in advocating that valuable financial instruments such as the RCF remain available and unchanged during these challenging times. He also suggested that other innovative instruments such as that offering debt forgiveness to countries impacted by the EBOLA epidemic in Africa be considered in these similar circumstances created by COVID-19.
Minister Gonsalves also intimated that urgent practical interventions are needed to deal with liquidity challenges, before they become issues of solvency. A strategic plan of support for the countries of the Caribbean in the short-term is therefore urgently needed.
Alicia Bárcena reassured the subregion that this dialogue’s results and key messages would be delivered to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, to be considered in his platform of advocacy on behalf of small island, middle income countries in his engagement with the international financial community for support.
In her welcome remarks to the Caribbean authorities, Bárcena emphasized that “we find ourselves in very challenging times. There can be no doubt that COVID-19 will have a profound and lasting impact on the welfare of our countries and our region for the next several months. We are putting the Caribbean first in everything we do”, she declared.
“It is commendable that every government has been putting the health and wellbeing of their populations first, and so I am happy to see the progress that has been made in controlling the spread of infection across the Caribbean. However, this effort has come at a very high cost, particularly in your subregion, which already suffers a high level of vulnerability to both climatic and economic shocks, and with many of your economies already shouldering debt that is still very heavy, even with progress made to reduce external debt levels in recent years”, she added.
In her presentation, Bárcena further noted that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Caribbean countries has translated into both domestic and external challenges, the most significant of which include revenue and income losses, a drop in investment, rising unemployment, increased indigence and poverty, the failure of small and medium sized businesses, and challenges to the financial system.
The external challenges include the near total shutdown of air and cruise travel, dealing an immense blow to the tourism sector; stress in related supply chains (agriculture, construction, hotels, restaurants); a sharp contraction in larger economies, a downturn in commodities prices, the contraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and remittances; disruption in transportation and global supply chains; risk aversion for external investors and financial turbulence, and restrictions on foreign exchange availability.
She recalled that, according to ECLAC’s latest projections, GDP growth in the Caribbean is expected to drop in 2020 by -2.5%, with a downward bias. She also noted that Caribbean countries are spending between 1% and 4% of GDP to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, with limited fiscal packages focused on social security programs, on loan deferrals and liquidity support for SMEs for increased health care spending on the testing and treatment of critical COVID-19 cases, and for enhanced public health surveillance.
She noted that the high debt levels and interest payments limit public expenditure. She also highlighted the fact that “Caribbean economies have the highest debt ratios in the world, averaging 68.5% of GDP in 2019. Reductions in production and income along with increases in borrowing will further rise debt burdens. Debt is rooted in external shocks, compounded by the impact of natural disasters and inherent social and economic structural weaknesses”, Bárcena explained.
Given the nature of the assistance offered to the Caribbean by international financial institutions and development agencies for facing the pandemic in the short term, increased public debt is inevitable. Moreover, the recovery path of Caribbean countries will be more difficult than those of other economies given the characteristics of their productive structure and in light of the ever-present threat posed by the upcoming hurricane season, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC stressed.
Alicia Bárcena also emphasized that the crisis induced by COVID-19 underscores the importance of ECLAC’s proposal for building resilience and reducing debt. ECLAC’s proposal links building resilience to debt reduction and recommends the creation of the Caribbean Resilience Fund (CRF), with a view to the creation of a globally coordinated debt deleveraging mechanism with a climate component to address the global debt overhang problem: standstills and debt moratorium.
“It is urgent that there be effective coordination and interaction between multilateral institutions, donor countries, and small States debtor countries. Member States will require flexible support from multilateral institutions, including lines of emergency financing”, she insisted.
ECLAC’s Executive Secretary stressed that relief for debt service payments can be extremely useful to supporting financing needs. “The ECLAC’s resilience fund proposal has the potential to offer much needed long-term relief particularly to middle income countries. Acceleration of the debt swap initiative and establishment of the ECLAC Climate Resilience Fund is needed, given the impact of the pandemic and the potential for an active hurricane season in 2020”, she said.
“We have heard from all of you that you need immediate action”, Bárcena told the Prime Ministers, Premiers and Finance Ministers in her closing remarks. “Borrowing is not the answer to confront this crisis. Caribbean countries need grant support fast. There is need for urgent intervention to ensure liquidity”, she said.
“Let me say that we are very much on board. We are part of this. A game plan for the short term is needed and we have to work on this, together with CARICOM, ACS and OECS. We will continue to advocate for this debt relief, for grants, for concessional funding for the Caribbean countries. And we will make sure that we can all address these issues with one voice, expressed clearly and openly. We heard you loud and clear. We will make sure that the Secretary-General of the UN (António Guterres) and his team receive this information with a view to their supporting us at the international level”, Bárcena concluded.
After all the years of begging by farmers for help, it had to take a pandemic to get the government to finally take praedial larceny seriously.
Who went on CNN begging? 🤔🤣🤣
@Hal Austin April 29, 2020 4:39 PM “@ Poorpeace: Did she say anything that could not have been said on CBC?
My response: Yes. But CNN has a much bigger audience.
Was what she said relevant to the immediacy of the crisis facing Barbados?
My response: Yes.
Is she the spokesperson for the South Pacific islands?
My response: No. But I am suspect that you already know the answer
Is she now fit enough to return to work?
My response: Evidently. She was at work at 2 this afternoon on CNN and now on CBC since 7 pm. We women are NOT weaklings.
What was the purpose of the interview?”
My response: You are a long time journalist. Why don’t you educate us?
@Baje April 29, 2020 4:55 PM “…NAKED AND OVERWEIGHT.”
And you?
Naked, overweight, angry and impotent?
@WURA-War-on-U April 29, 2020 5:03 PM “after DECADES of disenfranchising the people, DELIBERATELY keeping depressed areas in DRUGS, GUNS and CRIME…now got the nerve to act as though none of it ever happened…then look for ways to blame it all on the big countries, on the people or on everyone else.”
After years of writing foolishness you choose to blame drugs, guns, and crime on others?
@WURA-War-on-U April 29, 2020 6:07 PM “to send 50 of ya own people to UK as slave labor for shite money where they will not survive the racism and brutality..”
But yet you and Hal and Baje choose to remain in places where there is brutality and racism, and yet you have survived have you not, and all 3 of you have even thrived. The 50 farm laborers are no less resilient than you nor Hal and Baje, maybe even more resilient.
Racism is wrong.
Brutality is wrong.
So ..did Cow ever REPAY the hundreds of millions of dollars he borrowed through nuisance Robinson from the NIS for the Apes HIll scam, …how come the people are not hearing about all those loans..
what about the golf course in Ch Ch…with some scam company the deceased DPP was connected to…it’s all in the Auditor General’s report,
Am sure Miller can remember more than i can in that report that both governments so CONVENIENTLY IGNORE…
Silly…so that means i can also pick you up and send you during a plague…no biggier, right…anytime and any old pay is quite alright with you..
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.