Recently the blogmaster observed a sign that announced the takeover of Montrose supermarket by behemoth Massy. A caller to a talk show asked what does it mean if all of our successful businesses are being ‘huffed’ by ‘outside’ interest? Education and health are the top two allocations in the national budget.
Minister of Youth Dwight Sutherland recently announced a $100,000 anti violence campaign targeting gangs. DLP candidate for St. George North Floyd Reifer responded with a counter-call to implement community sports programs targeting young men in order to arrest crime. The blogmaster was reminded to double check the definition of generational time which typically ranges from 22 to 33 years.
On another blog a question was posted – why have successive Black governments failed to execute policies and programs to unlock the full potential of Black Barbadians? We forget that the relationship between political and economic classes is greatly influenced by the economic agenda of those who own capital.
Public outrage at the release of the Trojans Riddims video interpreted by many Barbadians as glorifying gun violence, mirrored similar outrage at the release of the Auditor General listing malfeasance and incompetent management of public finances. The blogmaster suspects similar outrage WHEN the next NIS actuarial report eventually is made public. The last actuarial review was in 2017 and dealt with the 2012-2014 period?
Great fanfare was made of the arrival of 10 new water trucks, this was followed by the news several BWA pumping stations were knocked offline by an electrically outage caused by a freak weather event. In the classroom we are still taught man’s basic needs are food, shelter and water. Have we missed the boat to innovate and aggressively integrate food production with the tourism sector? Mark Maloney delivered The GROTTO, Villages at Coverley and of recent there is HOPE at Chancery and Lancaster to satisfy high demand for housing solutions.
It does not matter if our trade unions go to sleep at the switch, in the adversarial form of government practised in Barbados, we are fortunate to have two Labour Parties. Barbadians on the tropical sunny isle are encouraged to protest the high price of imported commodities including gas at the pump and take consolation from the feedback of the IMF.
Barbados has made good progress in implementing its Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan to restore fiscal and debt sustainability, rebuild reserves, and increase growth…have helped rebuild confidence in the country’s macroeconomic framework. However, a virtual standstill in the tourism sector during the pandemic took a significant toll in 2020, with the economy contracting by 18 percent.
Fifth Review Under the Extended Arrangement, Request for Waiver of Nonobservance of Performance Criterion, and Modification of Performance Criteria-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Barbados
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