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Barbados, Slave to Debt

A report in the local press yesterday piqued the curiosity. It detailed former Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler will be working with the region, including Barbados “with the reform of the international debt architecture and issues surrounding vulnerability of small states”. His involvement is as a result of an engagement with former employer Caribbean Policy…

Chris Sinckler, former Minister of Finance

A report in the local press yesterday piqued the curiosity. It detailed former Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler will be working with the region, including Barbados “with the reform of the international debt architecture and issues surrounding vulnerability of small states”. His involvement is as a result of an engagement with former employer Caribbean Policy Development Centre, where he was Executive Coordinator before serving in the Thompson and Stuart administrations.

A quote attributed to Sinckler – “It is critical to see how Barbados and the Caribbean can access money and develop finance on a concessional basis”.

The news item does not interest the blogmaster because Sinckler presided over a very challenging economic period as Minister of Finance and was the face of economic policy in the former administration. His appointment reminded the blogmaster how we have become slaves to debt at the level of the individual and government, technically one and the same.

There is the text book definition what is good and bad debt, we get it. Committing to a debt which helps to develop the individual to be marketable, grow and protect earning capacity, we get it. At the government level, to borrow within serviceable limits to create opportunities for citizens to enjoy quality living, we get it. Notwithstanding the foregoing it has become obvious accumulating debt is the preferred option above revenue generation in the prevailing culture of managing our affairs. According to the 2019 Financial Stability Report household debt increased by over 200% between 1999 to 2019. In the same period government’s struggled to manage the debt to GDP increased from 60% to close to 160% has been copiously documented. 

It is fair to draw a conclusion the majority of households are carrying significant debt- acerbated by a deep haircut by the government in 2018 on some domestic debt compounded by the 18 month pandemic. It is also fair to describe Barbados’ economy as trapped in a vicious debt cycle given its highly leveraged state. The correlation between rising household and government debt must not be ignored. Accumulating debt has become a ‘fashionable’ first option by individuals and government alike.

In a world where debt financing is the preferred option, financial institutions as the owners of burgeoning individual and government debt have grown in importance. Something has got to give. The conspicuous consumption model to which Americans and others in the West have become addicted will not work for Barbados. We simply have no sustainable export earning options available in the short to medium term. Our problem is the exponential debt accumulated in the last 20 years has broken the back of the camel. We have sown the wind and it is time to reap the whirlwind.

As a people we have to demand better from our policymakers. Tired narratives and warm over policies must be unequivocally rejected. As individuals the time has come and gone to take ownership of home affairs by making smart decisions. Getting fat from debt financing is not the recommended way. Unfortunately if we are unable to correct, it will be done for us. In fact it has already started.

The government is you, you are the government.

128 responses to “Barbados, Slave to Debt”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Countries with the lowest national debt

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/273488/countries-with-the-lowest-national-debt/

  2. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Supplementary material
    https://www.visualcapitalist.com/government-debt-in-2021/

    Have a great day.

  3. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Does CONFESSIONAL mean they will have to confess why we need to borrow???😂😂😂😂😂😂

    Dang it! I guess it is supposed to be CONCESSIONAL.

    ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️

    I was hoping for a confession.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    It was a typo.

  5. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Obviously.

  6. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Vacationing in St Martin.
    That little typo sent me off the track

    She gave her concessions
    Then went to confession
    Alas, there was no redemption
    For falling to temptation

    Of course my favorite
    There oc was a girl named Virginia. They called her Virgin for short but not for long..
    — Have a great day. Hopefully, I can get back to reality —-

  7. John Avatar
    John

    DavidAugust 23, 2021 4:41 AM

    Countries with the lowest national debt

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/273488/countries-with-the-lowest-national-debt/

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

    I see you’ve learnt one of my techniques.

    The next step after identifying those countries with the lowest debt is to try to explain why.

    It helps if you have some sort of personal knowledge of the country.

    If there are any countries that exhibit the desirable characteristic in which you have lived or visited, start with those ones when trying to understand why.

    Then read about the others and look for what is similar … the old Sesame Street method!!

    However, I doubt you will find it is in the water as I have with COVID,

    Debt is a bit more complicated than COVID.

    Sometimes it is good to incur debt if it is directed towards building a productive capacity.

    All of our old time Quaker ancestors operated that way … but they usually repaid their Friends either by making all of their businesses profitable so others in the Society could grow as well.

    Else they converted their holdings to cash through the Court of Chancery and repaid their loans.

  8. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Entrusting Sinckler with this task is the same as giving a deaf-mute blind man the keys to nuclear missiles.

    Let’s hope he doesn’t confuse the decimals of millions and billions. Our Supreme Leader must be vigilant and have the horsewhip ready for Sinckler before he signs any treaty.

  9. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Let’s start with oversized cabinets and largesse consultants fees
    Starting at that point would help reduce debt
    Then let’s people input on helping to develop an economy out of their educational knowledge and skills is taken with all serious
    Presently our economy is dependent on the business proposal most foreigners whose only interest is to take out as much from this economy and direct to outside banking sources for their future security
    Knowledge is power and Barbados govt has yet to resources some of the knowledge which barbadians walk around with inside their heads

  10. Dirt Farmer Avatar
    Dirt Farmer

    Harriet Green found some surprises when she traced her family’s history in the Caribbean.

    DaCosta!!

    November 6, 2017

    Harriet Green with daughter Nancy and mother Suzette in the Bridgetown Synagogue.

    Bridgetown, Barbados. I’m sitting in a cafe in the old town overlooking the historic Garrison and the sweeping Savannah race course, waiting for historian and retired diplomat, Dr Karl Watson. He’s running late, but I’m desperate to meet him, so I’ll wait as long as it takes.

    We’ve emailed, before I came to the island, and I believe he can shed important light on the Jewish contribution to West Indies history — and, more importantly to me, the history of my own family on Barbados.

    Nearly three decades ago, when I last visited, I was crazy for the beaches, and rum punch at sundown. I didn’t give a hoot about why my ancestors came to the island. That’s changed. This time, I’m determined to uncover a mystery.

    You see, most of my family is Jewish. But my maternal grandmother was not. At least, that’s what I thought… Born Nancy Bowring, she grew up in a family of great privilege, at the centre of Barbados white society. As a child in London, I listened rapt to tales of their grand colonial life on the island. A world that has disappeared — of tennis parties, servants and enormous houses.

    They played polo and raced horses on the Savannah. My great-grandfather was the first commodore of the Yacht Club and briefly captain of the West Indies Cricket Team. In 1920 they entertained the Prince of Wales during his diplomatic tour of the Caribbean. I never thought they had Jewish roots.

    Over the past few years, my mother has become increasingly curious about Nancy’s mother, my great-grandmother, Violet DaCosta. A few years ago, she found graves bearing the name DaCosta in the Barbados synagogue. We’ve done lots of research since then — spent many hours in the British Library — but stalled at the end of the 18th century. Then an email from Dr Karl Watson arrived in my inbox in early July, and the pieces started to fall into place. I knew I had to meet him face-to-face.

    Waiting to meet him with me is Miguel Pena, head of the National Trust of Barbados. Miguel has been showing me round the island all morning, on a bespoke heritage tour, learning about how this island, 100 miles east of the other West Indian islands, came to be so important to the British Empire, and to the sugar trade.

    In the centre of old Bridgetown, we stopped to look at a very old department store, DaCosta & Co. I’d heard about it many times before, but posing for a photo with my teenage daughter felt very special. The store was founded by my great-great-great-grandfather, David DaCosta, a hugely successful businessman known as the “Napoleon of Commerce”. Records show that he was christened aged five, in 1824, but came from a Sephardic Jewish family.

    His own father, Isaac Hisquia DaCosta (1790-1852) was brought up Jewish but left the synagogue after marrying on the neighbouring island of St Vincent.

    Why? Well it turns out that Isaac’s wife was a “free coloured woman”, Rebecca — most likely my great-great-great-great grandmother.

    I’d discovered this on a genealogical website just before my visit, and wondered how common it was for a Jewish man to marry a black woman in the early 1800s. Was this why Isaac left the synagogue, and had his son christened?

    The synagogue is the oldest in the so-called New World, but fell into disuse and had to be saved from demolition by Sir Paul Altman, whose family came to Barbados in 1931. Now painstakingly restored, the synagogue site (including a cemetery and mikvah) is a prized Barbados National Trust property protected by Unesco within the World Heritage Site of Historic Bridgetown.

    Beside it, there’s a wonderful museum of Jewish history. Here, guided by the architect Geoff Ramsey, I find DaCosta among other Sephardic names listed abundantly on the restored gravestones. Then I sit and watch a film about how the Jews came to Barbados.

    You probably know some of the story already. It starts in Spain, where Jews flourished during the Golden Age of the late middle ages but were forcibly converted after the Moorish rulers were expelled. Many Jews fled to nearby Portugal, only to be followed there by the Inquisition — so they fled again to Amsterdam. And from Amsterdam, many travelled to Recife in Brazil (then owned by the Dutch), looking for new opportunities. When the Inquisition arrived there, the Jews fled again, some finding their way to Barbados.

    At my hotel, while others were swimming, I retreated to my room to study my notes. I’d found out a lot in the British Library, in Arnold Wizinitzer’s seminal book Jews in Colonial Brazil. There were references to DaCostas in Recife. Staring over the veranda at the silhouetted heads bobbing in the still waters of the Caribbean, I wondered if those Recife DaCostas might have been my direct ancestors.

    According to Wizinitzer, around 150 Jewish families left Brazil in 1654, when the Inquisition arrived there. But some stayed in the New World — founding new Jewish communities in the Caribbean — including Barbados, a British haven recently opened to them by Oliver Cromwell.

    It’s intriguing to think I might be descended from these founding refugees, because, despite their small numbers, Jews played a huge role in the island’s early development.

    It may not seem so very clever now, but what those Brazilian Jews knew about windmills and how best to extract sugar from cane, revolutionised the sugar trade and significantly boosted production.

    There’s a dark side to this. The sugar trade flourished exactly in proportion to the African slave trade, which boomed in the mid-to-late 1600s. From 1627 to 1807, it is estimated 387,000 Africans were shipped to the island against their will. To be perfectly clear: the wealth of the island (and perhaps my forebears) was a direct result of appalling suffering.

    By the 19th century, the Jewish community had dramatically declined as the sugar industry faltered, alongside natural disasters and assimilation.

    A note in the Jewish museum suggested that many Jewish men married black women, and popular surnames on the island today testify to a Sephardi heritage: Massiah, Aboab, Carvalho, Abrahams, DaCosta, DePeiza, Daneils, Shannon, Pinto and Lindo.

    Many (like my ancestor David DaCosta) were assimilated into the white Christian community. It’s hard to establish why, in any particular case, because the records don’t explain. It could have been in preparation for marriage, Miguel suggests, to facilitate overseas travel, or just for social mobility.

    Whatever the reason, the once thriving Jewish community on Barbados dwindled to just one observant Jew, who negotiated the deconsecration and sale of the building in 1929. Bevis Marks Synagogue in London acted as trustee taking custody of the Torah, silver breastplate, pointer, cup and candlesticks.

    Briefly, the building became headquarters of the Turf Club. My great-grandfather, William — Nancy’s father — was its first treasurer. I doubt he had any idea that his wife Violet’s ancestors had once worshipped there, or that decades later his family would visit its restoration.

    Outside the gleaming synagogue there’s a mikvah, excavated in 2008. I’d never been inside a mikvah before, and as I walked down the steps with my mother and daughter something clicked — there are ghosts everywhere. Three generations of DaCosta descendants have returned to a place where our ancestors once bathed more than two centuries before. It’s incredibly moving.

    Back at the Garrison, Dr Watson finally arrives, looking dapper in panama hat, white shirt and jeans.

    I’ve been hoping for the impossible: that he will tell me everything. Plainly, he can’t. Nobody can. But he sets a large notebook on the table before him and flicks through pages of handwritten pencil notes.

    Here, he finds evidence that takes me back one generation before Isaac DaCosta. Isaac’s birth is noted in the synagogue records as 5539 Nisan (25 July 1779), along with his father’s name, Benjamin Henriques DaCosta. Karl also holds copies of various DaCosta wills, the oldest dated 1740.

    Wow. I’m so pleased. But there’s still much to do if I’m to trace my family back to Recife. From our email exchanges, I’ve learned that Karl knew my family and my great-grandmother Violet.

    His own family have been on the island since the 17th century, brought over as indentured servants. Like others in the poor white community, he grew up in a modest wooden chattel house. His was close to my family’s much grander residences. I ask what he remembers. What was my great-grandmother like?

    He looks a little awkward. The former diplomat in him struggles to find something positive.

    When he was a boy, he says, eventually, he sold Remembrance Day poppies. At my family’s house, Karl was taken to the servant’s entrance, to be given a coin on a silver plate and a pat on the head from Violet.

    He says that visiting their house was like visiting Buckingham Palace — and not, one senses, in a good way.

    Well, I never met Violet. But I did know her children, including my wonderful grandmother Nancy, after whom my own daughter is named.

    Nancy left Barbados as a young woman and came to London. She met my grandfather, a Jewish doctor, and converted to Judaism at West London Synagogue in 1935.

    Did she think of this as some kind of return, to the Jewish faith of her DaCosta forebears? Or was it just chance? Like so much else, I will never know.

    Cobbler’s Cove, where Harriet stayed, offers bespoke heritage tours for guests led by Miguel Pena, head of the National Trust of Barbados, and can include the synagogue and excavated mikvah.

  11. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Concessionary/Concessional financing, is a misnomer. The concession is in terms of interest rate and the repayment period. Not the loan itself.
    Most loans from the bi-lateral bodies already carry interest rates which do not reflect the real risk. The other half is called kicking the can down the road, extended repayment time.

    The bi-lateral loans from entities funded by the G7 and G20 countries are ALREADY monies those countries are borrowing. Only a minute percentage can balance their budgets. The USA hasn’t had a balanced budget since the early 70s.
    So the question is who owns these debts?

  12. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    https://fb.watch/7zpClQXSFQ/

  13. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Fire at mall

    https://www.facebook.com/270969375988/posts/10157866026935989/

  14. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ NorthernObserver August 23, 2021 9:44 AM

    The world belongs to the capitalists. This is true globally, in the USA, the EU and China.

    In terms of Barbados, this means that the island does not belong to the naive masses and their so-called political representatives like our GG in her so-called costumes, but to Baron Kyffin of Simpson, Saint Charles, Dr. h.c. Bizzy, Mr Jerkham, the Concrete Man and some other gentlemen.

    So, to document the true balance of power, we should adjust the list of national heroes and erect a monument to the richest businessman on the sacked Nelson’s pedestal. We should ask ourselves openly and honestly why we have only socialists, social workers and other unproductive rabble as national heroes.

    Shouldn’t we honour and admire those who are successful in their professions instead of looting taxpayers’ money?

  15. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ NorthernObserver at 9:44AM

    The debts are fiat debts,in the same manner as the dollar in you pocket is fiat money. Somebody somewhere decided let there be debt and there was.

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @ Vincent

    The question – is it sustainable?

  17. John Avatar
    John

    You will find the Quakers and the Jews were close.

    The Quakers, like the Puritans were thrown up during the Reformation period which was driven by the availability of the Translation of Bible.

    It was no longer only available in Latin.

    Key to its Old Testament translation would have been the Hebrew Scholars displaced from Spain and Portugal who wound up in Amsterdam.

    Holland was religiously tolerant.

    The Jews had been banned from England since 1290 and England was just across the channel.

    The challenge for both the Puritans and the Quakers was that the Book of Revelation (New Testament) deals with the Jews and the Second Coming of Christ.

    Once the Puritans won the English Civil War, they set about moving to allow the Jews back into England.

    Cromwell, in 1655, formalized it.

    The Quakers arrived on the scene during the Civil War.

    Many were originally Puritans and pursued the spreading of the Gospel earnestly.

    Many Jews became Christians in Barbados.

  18. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David Bu
    It will be as long as it is serving a utilitarian purpose. Man is very creative. The important objectives are to create the goods and services required by man and to distribute them as efficiently as possible. As NO averred,it appears like kicking the can further down the street. That buys time to contrive something new and more acceptable.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Bear in mind the thesis of this item is about the debt load being carried based on a consumption behaviour that is unsustainable.

  20. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David Bu

    At what point is a debt load unsustainable? Who determines that? Is it based on an objective criterion? I am sure there are countries,using this metric ,that has a debt /GDP ratio almost double that of Barbados. What is the objective measure of unsustainable consumption? And who is doing the consuming? Not the man in the street.

  21. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    The picture at the top is misleading as the People of Barbados are not modern slaves and are bog standard old time slaves from the good old days of slavery when sub human people knew their place or were whipped with a good old bible reading to teach them real good how to be good or suffer as beasts of burden like tortured animals.

    Bonds may be one the the safest forms of investments as Big Banks specialising in Bonds bought ownership of the world’s largest Global Investment Banks who went long on bundled up mortgage and debt instruments of MBS and ABS US debt as they were categorised as fixed income and safe as houses during the mergers and acquisitions takeovers in the aftermath of global financial crises and insolvent bankrupted banks. However some bonds fail and are known as junk bonds and not worth the paper they are written on.

    Investments can go down as well as up an Investors in Government Bonds of Barbados should just eat up the shit and write off losses on their books. They must have been stupid deluded mugs and suckers to buy that Bajan sovereign debt shit which was obviously bad shit.

    Karma is a bitch. Blacks from Africa who were members of the human race were robbed kidnapped labelled and branded slaves and the property of the Royal Family slave trade businesses, where old pirates claimed they proved legal ownership of stolen people with paperwork of mickey mouse trades of pure junk like cowrie shells glass beads and manilla or goods and products with so called added value like alcohol tobacco and guns.

    what do slaves know about the banking

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Thought we had accepted acid tests/ratios that determine measures.

  23. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Epilogue

    Barbados should dick their debtors which is the means of freeing yourself up from debt slavery

    capiche

  24. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    A ghetto man does not need to brag or boast
    but walk the most talk the most love the most
    and travel from coast to coast
    I am Gifted Unlimited Rhyme Universal
    aka Guru: Everything you need to know

  25. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Perhaps Barbados should pass on it’s sovereign debt to Queen Elizabeth II when they became independent like Liberace

    Full name :
    Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor

    Addresses :

    Buckingham Palace
    London SW1A 1AA

    Windsor Castle
    Windsor SL4 1NJ

    Balmoral Castle
    Ballater AB35 5TB

  26. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @VC
    Correct. And that is reason my brainiac nephew on Wall St, is so big on crypto. Likely why @Pacha is so confident in the demise of $US.
    If today I had to extend my thesis of 40 years ago, Debt: Incarceration without Walls, it would likely see the FANGs of the globe issuing their own currency. Maybe even buying/assuming lands for their base.
    The perspective that Sovereign Debt is backed by that Sovereign’s ability to tax grows weaker with each passing year. And one the Chinese do not share, as they want collateral for their money.

  27. John A Avatar
    John A

    The issue for us guys is after a default and debt restructuring coupled to a major drop in our one legged economy tourism, how will we be viewed as a Sovereign Guarantor now? What is our true debt service ability factor today based on current income and expenditure? Are we as a country now seen as insolvent in terms of debt service ?

    These are the topics the politicians don’t want to face so the red herrings get thrown at us instead. Republic, same sex marriage and anything else in the desk draw. Unfortunately even the opposition fly on the bait and refuse to demand a discussion on our economic reality. So who de ass will bother to pay a shopkeeper in de bush any mind!

  28. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “His appointment reminded the blogmaster how we have become slaves to debt at the level of the individual and government, technically one and the same.”

    that’s all the islands will ALWAYS BE….politicians with slick tongues…begging for votes only to become ministers/misleaders outfitted with BEGGING BOWLS….since they won’t stop tiefing…and make it even worse with the corruption……

    stuck in the matrix..few will want to detach themselves…that’s on them, the system needs Slaves anyway…for those who got the syndrome..

  29. Dirt Farmer Avatar
    Dirt Farmer

    N d Bush!!

    “ Unfortunately even the opposition fly on the bait and refuse to demand a discussion on our economic reality. So who de ass will bother to pay a shopkeeper in de bush any mind!”

    £££££££££££££££££-

    1 + 1 = 2 in de bush.

    Today’s mathematical delinquents.

  30. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David Bu at 11:28 AM
    Acid tests have shelf lives as well. The reality is that those who designed them were the first to break” the rules of thumb” when the going got tough. The ratios were just that rules of thumb. At the individual level there was a rule of thumb that house mortgages should be some multiple of one’s annual salary. Subsequent events also caused that to change. So we are in an era of rapid change as circumstances change.

    @ NO at 12: 43 PM
    I love that insightful remark re the Chinese acquiring/requiring collateral for their loans.

  31. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    After three and half years of this govt
    Debt levels continue to climb
    When will this govt implement policies that are long term sustainable in helping to pay debt
    When in opposition this govt told all and sundry that taxing the people was not a sustainable way of paying debt
    However this govt has not hide away from burdening the people with more taxation
    With a new election months away
    Will this govt tell the people of new policies they have in lowering of debt
    I doubt not as govt hides under the COvid umbrella finding all kind of excuses as to why Barbados debt levels continue to climb

  32. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    So far all I have heard and seen and done from govt are buildings blown up
    Buses and garbage trucks delivered
    Talk of having more parks and legacy
    But not one word on govt policies for lowering of debt
    It most likely would be the same ole IMF path of borrowing and placing the debt on the shoulders of the people
    One day coming soon the people voices would say enough is enough

  33. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Angela
    BLP will be odds on favourites to win a second term. Sometimes it is better to have grace to live an easier and happier life. Politics is not as much fun as partying as any youth and young minded oldie can tell you as you only have one life to live and you have to live it.
    Government Debt is not the same as Personal Debt which is a burden on people that causes stress and anxiety.

  34. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Seems like Bajans talk about politics more than politicians do, maybe they should go into career politics.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    Today’s Nation editorial.

    Reducing our debt

    Having undergone two debt restructurings in 2018, Barbados needs all the help it can get to ensure it does not fall into a debt trap.
    ANY EFFORT TO give Barbados an ease on its worrying debt is positive. It was therefore interesting to learn that former Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler is involved in an effort to help this country and other small states find a solution to their debt vulnerabilities.
    The debt challenges facing Barbados were restated recently when the Central Bank published its half-year economic report. The monetary authority noted that Government’s debt stock was equivalent to $13 billion (150 per cent of Gross Domestic Product) at the end of June 2021. It explained that this elevated debt ratio continued to be driven by the contraction in gross domestic product which was responsible for 78 per cent of the increase in the pre-COVID-19 debt ratio.
    The bank added that since June last year, international financial institutions, recognising the severity of the shock caused by the pandemic on public finances, have assisted Government in covering its financing needs. During the April to June quarter, funding from external creditors was $264 million.
    We should point out that even though funding from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are on concessional terms when compared to the international capital market, this still represents money that Barbados must eventually repay. The borrowing is understandable, especially at a time when Government’s revenue is down and expenditure has increased.
    Barbados’ economic stewards, including Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes, have stressed that once the economy returns to growth, debt will naturally reduce to more sustainable levels. The problem is that there is still substantial uncertainty about when tourism will truly recover, and hence when Barbados’
    economic fortunes will really start to head in the right direction.
    There have been persistent calls for debt relief for Barbados and the region, with Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley among the most vocal in the lobbying effort. The world’s poorest economies have been given some relief, but states like Barbados are still waiting. It would therefore be useful for Barbadians to get more information on the initiative that Sinckler is involved in to achieve sustainable debt levels.
    Having already undergone two debt restructurings in 2018, Barbados needs all the help it can get to ensure it does not fall into a debt trap. We simply cannot afford to borrow forever. Such a policy is unsustainable.
    Reduced debt needs less borrowing, and a decreased need for loans requires Government revenue to rebound. This will not happen until the economy grows again, and this is heavily dependent on tourism returning to pre-COVID-19 levels. To welcome tourists to this country safely requires sound protocols and the enforcement of these measures at all times for visitors and Barbadians.
    All of us must recognise that these outcomes are all dependent on each other and on our behaviour. While it is Government that is doing the borrowing, which means it must be responsible with its spending and debt management, at the end of the day we all have a role to play.

  36. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    angela cox August 24, 2021 4:52 AM #: “When will this govt implement policies that are long term sustainable in helping to pay debt?”

    Could you please list and explain at least THREE (3) long term, sustainable policies ‘government’ has not introduced so far, you believe it should implement in helping to reduce debt?

  37. John A Avatar
    John A

    Our situation. Is really very simple and does not require all this long talk. It’s like this as anyone with a basic knowledge of figures will tell you.

    If you spend more than you earn you will have a debt. If you continue to do it the debt gets bigger and bigger. Eventually the debt will get to a point where your salary can not service it and Courts will come for the Tv and Courtesy for the car. You have only 2 ways out your hole. Cut your expenses to suit your reduced income or increase your income to service your higher expenses.

    Dem is no 3rd option sorry!

  38. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    ArtaxAugust 24, 2021 8:06 AM

    angela cox August 24, 2021 4:52 AM #: “When will this govt implement policies that are long term sustainable in helping to pay debt?”

    Could you please list and explain at least THREE (3) long term, sustainable policies ‘government’ has not introduced so far, you believe it should implement in helping to reduce debt
    Xxxxx.

    That is not my job to list any thing
    Govt has said many hands make light work when quizzed by the numerous consultants and over size cabinet
    Hence hands of the many hired for govt purpose are those whose should have economic decisions to stave off the climbing debt
    Govt said that the default had opened an economic way for saving
    Since those words were uttered govt transfered some of those savings to businesses by tax waivers and lowering of taxes and debt write off for business
    However the debt continues to climb
    All I am asking going forward with no sustainable economic policies
    How much borrowing does govt expect to do

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    What about the addiction to debt (consumption) at the household level? Is it time to take individual responsibility or should the government impose measures to force that change.

  40. John A Avatar
    John A

    @David

    Yes you are correct and every Barbadian has to also do the same thing in their personal finances too. We all collectively can’t go on like it’s business as usual. If you went to Chefette every weekend then go every other now. Make some basic changes that will bring expenses in line with reduced income. Also everyone must remember too that prices of items are going to increase because of massive increases in freight. We all may need to “brand down” and look at cheaper options there too. The freight out of China is now practically 3 times higher than it was last year. There is a shortage of containers and some ports are talking about not accepting new loads until the containers in the shipping yards are reduced. There is a whole global storm brewing with supply and demand and we will not escape it. We just need to spend wisely and weather it.

  41. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    This is the point that translates the last line in the blog. It starts and ends with the man and woman in the mirror. The fear is that financial stress COVID 19 is exerting in households compounded by expected increases in many commodities- as you know we are price takers – we will continue to see a decimation of the quality of life in many households. Contrary to popular opinion it will straddle so-called low to high income households.

  42. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ David

    Truth is no one will escape the price increases. As usual the poor and middle class will feel it worst but even the rich will not escape it.

    It is these types of conversations that our leaders need to have with the public. Our people need to understand what is coming and prepare for it. They need to all like now, start rethinking purchases and not wait till the reality is at our doorsteps. Having said that if you need to change a fridge this may well be the time to do it as freight prices are increasing. As usual our leaders choose to focus on other things though and will simply blame the merchants when the price increases come.

  43. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @David
    You have the addiction in your opposition to personal consumption? Whether the payment is by some form of debt, or savings, people will consume. Debt no longer scares, nor is unavailable, to the current 30-55 generation.
    Without the tourist consumption, all is dependant on local. The GoB isn’t going to discourage this. Given the VAT and duties, excise etc, the GoB benefits too.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @NO

    No issue with debt as declared in the blog, it is the underlying behaviour shaping the decision to take on debt at individual and government level that we must unfreeze based on what is unfolding around us.

  45. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    With a general election less than 2 years away and a gullible public consumed with other matters, do not hold your breath. This talk about government creating a buffer to buffer spikes in prices, how realistic is that given the way the economy is structured read education, healthcare, maintaining infrastructure and other services citizens look to government to support.

    The majority of Barbadians have no idea the tenuous state of play.

  46. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    John A August 24, 2021 8:14 AM #: “Dem is no 3rd option sorry!”

    Sorry, I disagree. There are at least five (5) more options.

    And, YES, some sort of “long talk is required,” especially as it relates to reducing government expenditure.

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

    angela cox August 24, 2021 8:59 AM

    Your response was predictable.

    You continually give BU the impression ONLY businesses BENEFITED from the ‘tax write offs,’ when you know it was also EXTENDED to INDIVIDUALS who owed taxes for the ‘write off period’ as well.

    What “debt write off for business” are you referring to?

  47. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    What is clear is that we will never get anywhere economically with this cursed Barbados dollar. We are the most expensive black country on the globe. Those are the facts. Why is that? Because the BBD is grossly overvalued after the financial illiterate Barrow, a so-called national hero (for what???) confused the digit “2” with the digit “5” after a night of heavy drinking with his socialist ministers. We need a 1:5 currency adjustment and in return the abolition of all import tariffs.

    I think the transition to a republic on 1 October 2021 on the occasion of our Supreme Leader’s birthday would be the right moment to exchange the dollar notes and dollar coins for republican coins and then devalue them in fine print. The naive masses, whipped up by blind nationalism, will probably only notice before Christmas when they buy glass marbles for their loved ones.

    With the exception of the two Williams brothers, our locals are far too fat anyway. So if after a devaluation they can only buy half the sugar food, they will finally become slim and healthy again.

  48. Dirt Farmer Avatar
    Dirt Farmer

    ?

    “I think the transition to a republic on 1 October 2021 on the occasion of our Supreme Leader’s birthday would be the right moment to exchange the dollar notes and dollar coins for republican coins and then devalue them in fine print. The naive masses, whipped up by blind nationalism, will probably only notice before Christmas when they buy glass marbles for their loved ones.”

    £££££££££$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    stands to reason that if we are to remove what we have, we must replace it with a better system which is more effective in keeping politicians from abusing their position. No proposal which betters what we have has been put forward.

    C&P.

  49. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Artax

    What other options are brought will only be hybrid options of the ones I mentioned, as they are only 2 ways to adjust any form of deficit. One is to reduce spending and the other to increase revenue. Whether you decide to do it with borrowed money or you own, when ever dun you have the same 2 options.

    My point is that government needs to start discussing our reality with the people as opposed to focusing on distractions. How long you think we can go on with current expenditure where our income levels are ? Another 6 months or a year if you push it? Eventually we will reach a level of unservicable debt and we both know that.

    Start the conversation don’t go the Sinkyuh route and pretend all is rosey so as to get to elections. You will be respected more for having the open conversation I can assure you.

  50. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    John A August 24, 2021 3:02 PM

    Your original argument at John A August 24, 2021 8:14 AM was, “If you spend more than you earn you will have a DEBT.”
    And, now you’re ‘talking’ about a ‘DEFICIT.’

    Although ‘deficit and debt’ are related, we often conflate or tend to use the terms interchangeably.

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