Central Bank of Barbados Governor Cleviston Haynes delivers the Bank’s review of Barbados’ economic performance in 2020 and takes questions from the media.
2020 Central Bank Economic Review – More Hard Times …
190 responses to “2020 Central Bank Economic Review – More Hard Times …”
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I am hereby predicting that in 2025 with or without covid, tourism will be the main FX earner and driver of the economy. arrival will be very close to the totals of 2019.
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@ David January 29, 2021 3:54 PM
“@John A
Let us agree this virus and its many variants will be with us for the foreseeable future. We have to be smart as we calibrate our way of life to coexist with it.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Blogmaster, talking about ‘calibrating’ the Bajan way of ‘managing’ the economy to co-exist with Covid-19 and its descendants, have you ‘managed’ to espy what has become of the proposals / recommendations made by the various committees?
Yes, those same bodies of consultants established with 20/20 vision (yes, we are in 2021 almost one year hence) and tasked with the do-or-die vital responsibility of ‘generating ideas’ for the much needed restructuring of the Bajan economy especially the one ‘chaired’ by the now deceased OSA with the mandate of finding projects to create “20,000” jobs or thereabout to fight off, like a Category 5 hurricane, the ‘temporary’ impact of Covid-19?
We are quite confident that a person like our own man “John A” would have made the ‘perfect’ replacement to sit in the Chair.
Since we now view the quarterly report from the Governor of the Central Bank on the performance of the Bajan economy as no longer fit for purpose -as it now represents nothing more than an exercise in a futile post mortem of an economy in the ICU thanks to Covid- what other options are there to resuscitate the poor patient besides the old quick-fix remedy tourism which the Bush Tea (the sage) defined as the Bajan national pastime of economic prostitution ?
Should we, therefore, succumb to the position taken by Hal Austin the armchair critic who fancies himself as a theoretical policy-making economist and postulates that the holding of foreign reserves is a figment of the imagination created by small open economies heavily dependent on imports like Bim?
What about that carried by the likes Vince Codrington the one awarded the Victoria Cross for his blind defence of the main players behind the ancien regime who now find themselves in uncharted policy-making waters and must come up with a convincing story to justify the need for such a huge old-fashioned Central Bank organization in a modern digitalized and ‘globalized’ world of monetary economics and finance?
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@ John 2
You are more correct than most will admit. I think that the current crisis has brought us to the reality that we need one nation. Imagine the possibility of pooling our resources and buying the vaccines we need for the entire region. Imagine training nurses and doctors to supply the entire region and not individual states. Imagine pushing intra regional trade into the billions using one currency, imagines ferries transporting us through the region with no entry requirements …………, -
William SkinnerJanuary 29, 2021 10:31 PM
@ John 2
You are more correct than most will admit. I think that the current crisis has brought us to the reality that we need one nationBut where is the leadership that would convince one and all
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MAM
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@ angela Cox
Leadership will have to evolve. I look at our young students taking on CXC etc.
Sometimes we ignore or are not well informed , but there are many regionally bodies within CARICOM. As we overcome COVID and navigate the post COVID challenge , regionalism would become more attractive. -
One nation? All with good intentions. But selfishness will not go away. The idiot Trump did one thing and that was to show that long hidden bigotries exist, even if not on the surface.
In the same way, all that would happen is the same rejection of The Federation. Grantley Adams had vision, saw the need, but selfish leaders rejected.
That would have been ceding power, which these leaders are reticent to do. Guyana can scarcely resolve it’s own political and racial differences, yet you want it to be in a Federation?
Can you really see Ralphie taking instruction from Mia or vice versa?
A trading bloc is as far as Caricom will get.
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@Miller
COVID-19 news had overtaken all matters that were preciously on the table
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PM Mottley’s despotic behaviour to keep Barbados’ borders open to UK , USA & Canadian tourists , in particular , has caused untold damage to this country’s economy and health care system.
It is akin to the releasing of a ‘ neu – Tron ‘ bomb ( like BU’s TRON !
Well I guess PM Mottley’s grab for tourist dollars…is the classic definition of – penny wise and pound foolish !
Over to her loyal foot soldier – David BU -
@ John A
Ten months in to the pandemic and our public intellectuals, politicians and policy makers have failed. Those at the UWI should be having regular online discussions on a likely post-CoVid economy; our newspapers should be publishing new and interesting proposals; our politicians should be calling for parliamentary debates.
What is the DLP alternative to the chaos of the BLP? I will tell you: they have not published any because they have none; or, they believe to do so now will mean the BLP stealing their ideas. That last is a typical Bajan response.
Where are the young economic students at UWI who should be demanding new approaches to the teaching of post-2008 and post-CoVid economics?
Once someone has a title or a PhD or a ‘big’ name people seem not to challenge their views on how the economy should be managed. It is extraordinary.
Or we drift in to the patois of Bajan economics: foreign reserves, more tourists, bigger hotels, cruise ships, more debt, higher pay, half of which the people repeating these mantras parrot-like do not fully understand.
By any measure – politics, business, community cohesion etc – Barbados is a failed nation. Even in a major crisis we cannot form a national consumer organisation to defend hard-hit consumers.
Part of the betrayal of the island is that those who know better are afraid to speak out for fear they will be attacked by the BU hyenas.
In the long term that cowardly silence will be a heavy burden for the nation to carry. -
@ Crusoe
Why can’t we have a debate about Caribbean integration without bringing in Trump. All Caribbean leaders , past present and future are , were , and will superior to Trump.
You fail to realise that many of the petty nonsense from the Federation no longer exists. Great strides have been made but bee now have extremely visionless leaders . I have full confidence that we will eventually be one nation.
Note: Federation failed in 1962
CARIFTA formed 1968
CARICOM 1973
CSME 1989
Federation 10 countries
CARICOM 20 countries and 5 member states
CARICOM has close relations with several non English Caribbean states that have observer status .
In other words CARICOM is much more successful than some of us have taken the time to learn.
History is on my side. Perhaps if we spent less time pretending to know all about USA , England, Canada and a little time on our backyard , we would be less pessimistic. -
We brought the country to the point where it (the economy) was about to take off and then the pandemic hit,” she lamented. (Quote) Mia Motley.
Excellent comments from Fractured BLP
@Hal,
Your faith in the UWI is sadly misplaced.Over the years on BU, I have pushed for the recycling of human waste. Our country is too poor to develop a sewage infrastructure.
With our limited economy we should look at more efficient methods of improving our local economy. The management of our environment should be a key to our development.
The Omni- processor is relatively inexpensive. One machine caters for 100,000 people. It has already been trialled in Senegal. Take a look at some of the below links.
https://savethewater.org/bill-gates-omniprocessor-future-water-technology/
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@john2 January 29, 2021 9:21 PM
“I am hereby predicting that in 2025 with or without covid, tourism will be the main FX earner and driver of the economy. arrival will be very close to the totals of 2019.”
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You’re on… provided that the bet is that short term vacation tourism “arrivals will be very close to the totals of 2019.” Of course remote work long term visitors will continue to grow aggressively and that will be the replacement for the old model of tourism.We need to put our money where our mouth is; let’s say $100 USD to the charity of the winner’s choice.
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@Peter
Only USD100 given a men of means? And what about the time value of money? Come on, put money where your mouth is at!
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@ TLSN
My faith in the UWI…???????
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@Hal,
Just pulling your leg! -
“@ Hal Part of the betrayal of the island is that those who know better are afraid to speak out for fear they will be attacked by the BU hyenas.
In the long term that cowardly silence will be a heavy burden for the nation to carry.”This fear goes way beyond BU. BU is perhaps the least place where fear is concerned. I can guarantee you that half the extremely mild comments I make on BU will not see the light of day in our press.
In real political terms we Bajans have been pampered. We have to be forced to put out our garbage correctly; some school children can literally destroy a bus and such basic things become political issues.
I really cannot understand here on BU whyanthingconcerningTrump/Biden/Johnson/Trudeau, can take up two weeks discussion. Anything on the Caribbean is basically 2/3 hours.
The reason is that we have been complacent about our own problems , leaving dangerously inept politicians and their assortment of lackeys to lead us into some heaven where apparently a Bajan sits on the throne.
How can you expect national discourse to go beyond the mundane when as soon as you open your mouth ,you are branded a traitor to the national cause; a CARICOM dreamer or a Bee / Dee.
National discourse took a serious dive in the mid seventies and it has been at the bottom of the national psyche ever since. BU is by far the only real organ that permits open and free discussion. Nothing else in the country comes close. Brasstacks is a distant second. -
PTL
I was referring to short term tourist. I did not even think about the PTL visitors when I made my prediction. The cruiser and hotel staying tourists is who i was talking about. PTL tourist is new I will not venture to predict how many will visit by 2025 – maybe i tak on you bet in 2023 🙂 -
@TLSN
I thought you were. But this is BU, cannot take anything for granted. That is why I always ask people to explain what they mean.
To explain myself, I know nothing about the workings of the UWI, but from what is in the public domain, it disappoints me.
When Larry King the broadcast died last week, one commentator said he loved his suspenders; I laughed as someone in my house looked around.
I had to explain that what we call braces, the Yanks call suspenders. I get it on BU quite often, an assumption that words have the same meaning for all readers.
My favourite at present is the Yanks tendency to answer some questions with the word ‘correct’; we say ‘yes’. There is also the long empirical explanation in reply to a theoretical question, which some people find intelligent and I think is a good example of someone misunderstanding what is being discussed. -
Crusoe.
In a federation there would be no need for ralphie or mia to take order from each other. Did como in NY take orders from Trump?
The constitution for leaving the federation just have to be harder than it was under the adams led federation.
like a like a 75 – 90 voter approval from the want to break away country + a similar vote from the leaders of the member countries + if any country break away then they will be isolated for all the benifits/agreements of “caricom” ( a very harsh brexit)also we have caricom nationals voting in whichever country they reside in so with free movement you may find that the nationalist votes may become diluted over time,
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PTL
short term visitorsBET ON!
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@ William
We have just had a discussion about Trump that had over (or nearly) 4000 contributions. f ten we have serious topics about Barbados and can just about manage a dozen.
We talk about divide and rule, but do we understand it. I remember as a youth a manager in a Lebanese-owned shop on Swan Street insulting a black shopper and people crowding down Swan Street to deal with the problem.
Next day they were back in the store shopping. That Lebanese family is now highly respected and are pillars of the establishment. Our collective assumption is that they are real Bajans now and we are all in this together.
I have said on BU on a number of occasions that our strength is as consumers (our sons and daughters, mostly lawyers, have sold us out politically) and we should form a national consumer council.
With such an organisation, we we put a ban on any company or organisation, then it has to go out of business. No retail business can operate in Barbados WITHOUT THE SUPORT OF BLACK CONSUMERS. It is not the Asians or whites that are holding us down, but we ourselves.
This is where an old Barbadian saying comes in: This is not your money; you did not work for that. The etymology of a word or phrase tells us everything we want to know about a culture. You may have the last word. -
DAVID
If you will bet against me then i willing to take up you offer of an increase
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@ David
Watch these fellows you betting with when the time come to pay you might get a bond yielding 0.05% and maturing in 10 years with option of rollover. LOL
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@ Hal
The truth is the politicians all over the world are the same. Before they make a change they consider political fall out and many other factors first.
We all harp about Singapore as the model to follow. You think any politician here looking for a vote every 4 years would risk to follow the Singapore model! Not a fellow will do that. So what are we left with? Well we have a Situation where we will only make small changes as long as they don’t rock the boat too badly. The thing is that might of half work pre covid, but the radical changes needed post covid you will not see.
Why do you think 12 months into covid we are banking on the same economic playing field we have banked on for decades?
Talk cheap it is doing that causes the challenge.
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Imagine if 12 months ago we took $100M of the $300M we gave tourism and put it into a green house project and an alternative energy project where we would be today.
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@ John A
Imagine if two years ago we had taken Bds$100m and put it in to a balance sheet post office bank? As CoVid recedes we will have another vehicle fora the financialisation of small businesses.
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@January 30, 2021 10:49 AM
“short term visitors
BET ON!”
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You’re on! 🙂 -
@john2 January 30, 2021 10:32 AM
“… maybe i tak on you bet in 2023 🙂”
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2023 is fine with me! 🙂 -
A
We dealing with the FX/greenbacks that the country needs. no bonds here. $100US = 2 of cruise passenger spend 🙂
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@John2
Alright bud I will be the witness for the bet if we all alive in 2023.😊
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Short term visitors is 2025
iI will decide if to take on the PTL visitors by 23.
I see David ducked out
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WS
I was not around for the federation nor have I done any research. it would be interesting to how jamacia economy did before and after the break up and compare it to the OECS and Barbados.
just saying.
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@John A
Will take the bet if the payout is in gold LOL.
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Fools gold ?
The payout is going to charity
And who say u will win?Come on
If you so confident then put ur money where your mouth is -
Thought he was a Bajan.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2021/01/30/regional-dr-gonsalves-managing-crisis-better-than-most/
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@ David January 30, 2021 4:38 AM
“@Miller
COVID-19 news had overtaken all matters that were preciously on the table..”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++So too has its ‘mutated’ version now facing the nation.
Those who were ‘selected’ to the various councils/committees to ‘advise’ the Cabinet on the challenges posed by that Covid-19 did not produce any recommendations to make any difference to the “18 %” propagandistic drop in GDP even though there was no mention of its ‘measurable’ impact on unemployment which is a reliable indicator of potential social dislocation or unrest.
As a result, the PM MAM ought to upgrade the ‘quality’ of those selected to sit on the same ‘economic recovery councils/committees’ to confront the mutated and more ‘impacting’ Covid-20 which is posing to be a more ‘dangerous’ challenge to the Bajan economy and society and must therefore be fast tracked and put on the front burner, tout suite.
The question to you Blogmaster, do you see the need for the upcoming palaver called the “Estimates 2021/2022 usually timetabled for February / March of each year?
Why not just accept the ‘much-reduced budgeted income and expenditure numbers’ submitted by the technocrats as the only version of the Appropriation(s) Bill in town for 2021/2022 without all the verbal masturbation by the 29+1 political Onans in the Bajan HoA?
After all, given such a significant drop in GDP for the year 2020, wouldn’t it be folly to expect revenue collection not to suffer a similar fate thereby forcing any proposed expenditures for the coming financial year (except debt servicing commitments) to be cut by an embarrassingly similar order of magnitude?
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@Miller
We need the estimates. It is a rigour we should not surrender, managing the national finances is serious business.
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The winter season is now unofficially over. That means we are back among ourselves again. Remember: Maximum social distancing, so don’t bump into your neighbour on the golf course between your mansions!
I’m really curious how this will affect our foreign currency reserves … Based on the data from the summer, I would assume we are not losing anything because our islanders are broke and can’t consume anything. On the other hand … the Christmas shopping may have burnt a lot more foreign currency than the few tourists brought us.
We might be able to sustain the current financial drought through the summer at the most. If the Corona protocol terror continues through the next winter because our islanders are not vaccinated or not vaccinated enough, the tourists will continue to come in too low numbers. We should then really take drastic measures. That means adjusting wages to the halved gross national product, which means halving wages as well. To compensate, we could lower import duties and devalue the BBD (politically correct: “optimise”).
In any case, it is clear that there can be no simple “business as usual”. COVID19 has ruined our national budget, the consolidation plans have failed or been postponed. We must therefore also finally get to work on the civil servants. Fewer civil servants and half pay.
Of course, our government is not to blame for this mess. However, such drastic cure will, of course, cause turmoil. Therefore, we should postpone the next elections until 2030. Those who call for elections in two years are irresponsible and not patriotic.
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@john2
The blogmaster does not gamble.
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ECONOMIC ‘HOLE’
Major austerity on way, says Marshall; however, Greenidge reassures Bajans
By Colville Mounsey
colvillemounsey@nationnews.com
Head of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, Dr Don Marshall, is predicting that within a few months Barbadians could be staring down the barrel of unprecedented austerity, which would include cuts to the public sector wage bill.
However, Government’s senior economic advisor, Dr Kevin Greenidge, says the Public Service and wider Barbados need not harbour such fears, as the country’s fiscal position is steady.
The comments came after the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry last Wednesday disclosed that the impending 15-day shutdown was likely to result in job losses in the private sector. Also on that day, Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes reported the economy contracted by nearly 18 per cent last year.
Gross domestic product contracted by an estimated $1.54 billion in 2020, meaning that Government is now managing an $8.85 billion economy. Adding to the woes is the fact that Britain, Barbados’ premier tourism source market, has prohibited leisure travel during that country’s shutdown. The Central Bank is now predicting that if all goes well over the next 12 months, the economy will expand by about five per cent.
Burden-sharing
Marshall told the Sunday Sun there was going to be major burden-sharing going forward, as the Mia Amor Mottley administration would be forced to conduct a major juggling act between declining revenues, maintenance of social services and protection of the vulnerable. He suggested that one option could be the payment of salaries every six weeks instead of the customary four weeks.
“The public sector wage bill is going to be a real struggle as Government seeks to protect the vulnerable and rescue households who face the scourge of unemployment and limited incomes coming into the homes. There is going to have to be some burden-sharing.
“This may come in the form of public sector workers having to wait a little longer for their monthly pay, with Government making a commitment to pay in two or three years’ time when the bottom of the COVID-19 crisis is hopefully reached. We are in recovery mode and we are going to have to make sacrifices from both the public and private sector,” Marshall said.
He added: “I think we are going to be looking at adjustments from as early as May, as we begin the new financial year. I think we are going to be facing levels of austerity that hitherto have not been tried. This is going to be the reality for many countries and not just Barbados.”
However, Greenidge argued that while a full assessment is still to be conducted regarding the impact of the pause on the economy, as well as the economic downturn, there was no evidence from a fiscal position to indicate there would be job losses in the Public Service.
“The economic team will have to sit down [this] week and discuss all of those things, but right now we are not short for financing. I don’t see any issues at this moment for public workers in terms of layoffs or anything of that nature. We do not have those sorts of problems with the fiscal account as yet. Our fiscal account is fine and there is no reason for persons to be concerned about any such possibility at this time,” he said.
The Prime Minister had indicated that the lockdown would result in tens of millions of dollars in losses.
Fiscal space
Following the shutdown last year, Government created fiscal space by devising the Barbados Optional Savings Scheme (BOSS). Governor Haynes reported that only 25 per cent of civil servants had retained those Government instruments. The aim of the programme was to reallocate about $100 million from the public wage bill to capital works programmes in order to keep economic activity turning over. Greenidge said there were no plans to extend the BOSS programme.
Marshall said that while Government might be tempted to try something similar or resort to printing money, given that the foreign reserves, propped up mainly by the International Monetary Fund, stand at $2.7 billion, this was simply not viable or sustainable. He added that ten months into the pandemic, the appetite for Government paper had been severely dampened.
“At some point we must have the conversation about what all of this means in terms of the 18 per cent contraction, which goes beyond any other number we were estimating. This is a deep hole and it is troubling, especially given the announcement from Britain that its citizens cannot travel for leisure, at least not before March 31 . . . .
“The option of printing money is not likely to give Government the revenues that it is hoping to recoup because of losses of taxes and business,” he said.Source: Nation
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@ DavidJ anuary 30, 2021 5:05 PM
“@Miller
We need the estimates. It is a rigour we should not surrender, managing the national finances is serious business.”No one is arguing to the contrary. That would be a futile exercise in pursuit of folly of the “ac” kind.
Even so, it is indeed an annual exercise as prescribed by the Constitution.
What should be of ‘greater’ concern is if there would be a need for the associated palaver and the partisan political backslapping this time around since there are no politically-coloured fighting cocks of a different breed in the barnyard of the still ‘poor-rakey’ HoA even if on parade in cyberspace.
Moreso, what ought to be presented is an ‘informed’ projection of revenues and a commitment to expenditures for the coming financial year which ‘genuinely’ reflect the very negative impact of Covid-19 for the soon ending (current) financial year and what can be easily assumed would arise from Covid-20.
In other words, devoid of unrealistic revenue targets given the expected further large drop in the country’s GDP and lacking in any airy-fairy wish list of expenditures to achieve narrow political short-term goals.
But here is a rather serious question of an ‘aside’ for you, Blogmaster!
Given the stark social, economic and political impact of Covid on the Barbadian landscape would you recommend the postponing of the ‘Going Republic in 20 21’ thingie (just like the ‘We Gatherin’ 2020’) until after the country comes to grip with the virus and begins to recover from its ravages?
Make sure you don’t score an ‘own’ goal in the BU gaol. LOL!!
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Economic growth
(% unless otherwise indicated)
2020 2021 2022
US GDP -3.8 3.2 2.5
OECD GDP -5.8 3.7 2.8
World GDP -4.7 4.2 3.4
World trade -10.6 7.0 5.4
Source: The Economist Intelligence UnitYet barbados with no alternative to Tourism gov. tells that barbados expectation of growth is 5 percent
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@ David
At least in the above article someone else is asking the same question I have been asking for months which is.
How are you going to run the economy with 20% less revenue while maintaining expenses based on the last estimates?
Maybe now brand name economist and not a shopkeeper in the bush asking the question somebody might reply.
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Let us implement my STARVE plan from March 2020.
Even after more than 60 years of independence, our masses only want to be employed in government service and not to act as entrepreneurs. That is now coming back to haunt us. The time of laziness at the expense of the private sector and the hard-working business people and employees there is over.
We must do EVERYTHING to boost private business and businessmenn and EVERYTHING to lower costs of the deep welfare state including the needy masses in the civil service. The civil service in its current form shaped by OSA is a burden for the nation and at the detriment of the common good.
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We barely have the money to get vaccine in time. And what are the unions doing? They want a hazard pay for working during the pandemic. Simply ridiculous. They keep wanting wage increases even though we have mass unemployment and productivity is at 1950s levels. Just look at the beaches during the week. All full of people enjoying the unemployment benefits. How appalling.
Our outspoken Senator is the number one investor bugbear in Barbados. Time for our government to send him to New York as ambassador.
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Barbados in its present state unfortunately reminds me of Britain in the 1970s. The island was the sick man of Europe then because the unions were blackmailing the government.
Of course, our government knew that this wage increase was totally idiotic. But unfortunately they had to do it anyway, because otherwise the unions would have called a general strike and harmed the country.
Our citizens must finally show solidarity with our democratically legitimized government and stop against the illegitimate influence of the unions. The least we could do would be to roll back the monstrous five percent public sector wage increase. That the unions are not proposing this shows once again how ruthless they are. They are not afraid to drive the island into bankruptcy.
All power to our government! Use the emergency laws!
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The government of Barbados may have to borrow and beg.
The average Bajan could limit their spending and only buy necessities for the foreseeable future.
Think of Covid 19 as similar to a natural disaster.
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@ Tron January 31, 2021 11:09 AM
“They keep wanting wage increases even though we have mass unemployment and productivity is at 1950s levels.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Productivity at 1950’s levels??
Prince Tron, you must have lost the cloth you normally use to shine the Royal brass bowl for a crown of political mimicry,
That has to the ‘dullest’ joke on BU for the year.
In the 1950’s sugar cane production was almost 7 times more than what it is estimated to be this year 2021.
In the 1950’s the thought of importing molasses to produce Bajan-made rum was as anathema to the Bajan psyche as importing flying fish from China.
In the 1950’s the roads across the country, albeit fewer, were better maintained and the detritus removed within 48 hrs even with the manual productivity involving only a man with a hoe, broom, shovel and donkey-drawn cart all without the ‘modern’ aids of weed-w(h)ackers, bobcats or fancy trucks to boot.
In addition, the “old-time” Civil Service was efficiently manned with less than half the amount of the bloated parasites currently sucking at the overly sore nipples of the poor taxpayers while staring all day at their workstation computer screens and android phones to play games or to follow social media distractions instead of ‘reading’ BU to be better informed about what is happening of serious import in their little island.
If real “productivity” was at the 1950’s levels the country ‘today’ would not have to borrow so much from the loan shark IMF to finance the current level of conspicuous consumption but would have been in a position to borrow, on the open market, to build infrastructural capacity like the Deep Water Harbour, the QEH, the East Coast “Highway” and the many secondary schools in both the urban and rural geographic residential corridors along with proper sewerage systems and a state-of-the-art Cahill type solid waste disposal system to match (sans the politicians’ kickbacks and corruption).
There is absolutely no comparison between the productivity painting of 1950’s Barbados and the 2020 ‘still’ photo of ‘educated’ incompetence.
Maybe one of 1970’s vintage but clearly nothing to write home about since 2008.
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@ Miller
Well said.
The invention of smartphones and WhatsApp have brought a turtle to a stop basically. I was in a government office last week to pay money and the cashier was busy on WhatsApp.
I said to her ” sorry for interrupting your WhatsApp conversation but I wanted to pay this.” Thing is she didn’t even seem too put out by my comment. Lol
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