60 Love Can Lose
It would be remiss of the blogmaster if the yesterday’s 2022 Grenada general election was not highlighted in this space. Keith Mitchell’s New National Party (NNP) won consecutive general elections in 2013 and 2018. The Mia Mottley led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) won consecutive general elections in 2018 and 2022. Today the Prime Minister of Grenada is 44 year old Dikcon Mitchell who led the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to office based on preliminary reporting 9 seats to 6. To his credit 75 year old Keith Mitchell won his seat.
Another example of the people expressing its will in a democracy. Time will tell if the NDC is able to satisfy people expectation or another case of shuffling chairs on the deck of the Titanic. It exposes Mia Mottley and the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) should NOT take its unprecedented mandate for granted. Less than a year into a second term and there is growing discontentment from Barbadians largely because of increasing harsh economic conditions brought on by negative movements in the external market. The main political opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) – not dissimilar to the NDC – is led by a new young Dr. Ronnie Yearwood. In fact Dickon Mitchell was invited to speak at the DLP’s Extraordinary Conference on 1 May 2022. The win should help to inspire Yearwood and his team to what is possible.
Some of us recognise the winning of a general election does not translate to manna from heaven, although it relieves concerns about a threat to ‘democracy’ by becoming a de facto one party state. Grenada like Barbados is a small island developing state which makes the job of governing for any government a challenge.
In the case of Mottley and Barbados one suspects if Yearwood is able to present a set of believable plans for Barbados and surround himself with a tean that is perceived as credible, who knows what is possible next election round. The recent decision by the Barbados government to borrow $256 million is not resonating well with the public. In theory many Barbados may understand we need to fix roads and attend to physical infrastructure BUT at what price. The debt stock of Barbados is north of 13 billion!
The blogmaster will continue to retreat to a position some do not accept. Citizens must continue find ways to agitate against our governments – to hold feet to fire. Politicians are in the business of popularity even if it comes at the expense of the people who elected them.
Barbados Underground 
60-0
30-0
those numbers shelf life had reached their expiration date and the Grenadines gave them their official burial ceremony
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Hip Hop Samples
An example of getting lyrics wrong is
Baje’s long talk rap which lacked intuition
8% of millionaires are black
got mixed up with
8% of blacks are millionaires
Cash Rules Everything Around Me
C.R.E.A.M samples As Long as I’ve Got You
That’s why I don’t pay too much attention to what people are saying and just do my own than
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just do my own thang
Good Times samples I Get High
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I am looking at America and seeing their function of govt under democratic process is functioning as under the tenants of the Constitution
I am.looking at Barbados having a Parliament absent of an opposition and pretending that such a form of goverance is totally in agreement with the Constitution
I am looking at America and a people who stands up with vigor for their rights
I am looking at Barbados having a people who prefer to suffer in silence while their rights are being eroded
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TheO,
The world as I know it, for as far back as I know, has always been mad. Perhaps even madder than it is now. Check the history books! Even America was madder than it is now. So was Europe and so was Barbados, of course. It is just that we expected progress towards fairness and equity to continue at a much faster pace.
We were probably stupid to have expected that. We have all been disappointed. Ordinary people all over the world, except maybe Scandinavia that I know of, are disappointed. This is what has raised the temperature to almost boiling point.
It is only since 1945, that humans have had the power to erase themselves from the face of the earth.
I don’t believe they will do it yet. But we shall see!
I don’t think GP believes that the world is going to end just yet though.
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Touch The Sky samples Move On Up
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I am looking at Barbados Underground and see that people love arguing with extremely faulty reasoning and illogical arguements.
I truly hope this small sample of BU posters can not be extrapolated out as representative of the whole nation.
Setting Precedence in Law such as Roe Vs Wade is a completely different concept to tenets of Constitution, which Supreme Court would know, but these Supreme Court Judges are a just bunch of sheisty ringers and the fake process was a set up on consignment under orders from political extremist right wing religious Conservatives.
I guess Ronnie Not Obama Yearwood is an intelligent man, but this could prove to be inconsequential with the Barbadian Population. 90-0 would be a number for the completion annihilation of DLP.
Wet Dreamz samples Mariya
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30-0 the ruination continue
60-0 the needle headed towards red
A,90- 0 all be dead
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Oh dear! The really smart man ranted and raved about a post that was meant for the Royal Wee, the aforementioned arrogant asshole!
I missed that in my scrolling past.
Now, speaking about gutter mouths – what does GTFOH stand for?
Not GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE?
Last week Angela Cox, another hypocrite who spoke of my language, typed WTF which stands for WHAT THE FUCK!
Wunnuh tooo hypocrite!
Of those infants I taught at primary school, I know only one who was arrested for drugs. I must ask what happened to his case. Several others I know about are doing well to varying degrees. Wouldn’t know about the finances of all of them. But I would have heard if they had run afoul of the law in ANY COUNTRY.
Of those young people with whom I interacted in youth groups, only one fell prey to drugs. He was having home problems. His mother told me all about it. He seems to have recovered somewhat. My other young people are all doing well at various professions both academic and otherwise.
The young man I mentored at and out of GIS, has taken the straight and narrow path. He had made up his mind before he even met me that he would not be going to prison EVER. I only made sure they did not lock him up wrongfully by forcing a confession out of him. So….
My son is hardworking, has his own fledgling business, is a loving, right thinking, sweetheart who is no trouble to anyone at all. Girls call him with their boyfriend problems.
Say again about young people I “mentor” being in trouble!
Steupse! You could want a bigger potty mout than Rihanna or Jay z whose success you recently held up?
Man, “GTFOH”!
P.S. I do not play victim. I fight back. Haven’t been beaten yet!
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My last words.
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The infamous 1958 UK Notting Hill riots. When will black Barbadians take matters into their own hands and carve out their own destiny?
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Observing an emotional wreck in real time.
🤡🤡🤡🤡
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GTOFH
I was thinking those words meant gotta tell Obama fuh real he handsome
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Took you long enough but here you are!
See what I mean? Just cannot help it, can you?
Stop there and bother about Donna.
And don’t start with the hit dog shite. We know who you mean.
You have some sort of compulsive disorder.
“Dullard does not punch downwards.”
Oh dear!
I love it!
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#Barbados is scheduled to repay the International Monetary Fund $928 million by the end of 2029, from loans borrowed over the last four years.
Subscribe now to our eNATION
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Source: Nation
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Angela Cox,
ASAP – as soon as possible
Lol – laugh out loud
WTF – what the fuck
GTFOH – get the fuck outta here
Standard use worldwide.
You are a hypocrite.
Thought I didn’t see, didn’t you?
Oh dear!
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Hit dogs will holler aka who the cap fits…
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Yes, the Dullard is suffering from some sort of OBSESSIVE Compulsive Disorder.
Just as I said, has to get his clown emojiis going!
Oh dear!
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Nah! Has nothing to do with hit dogs or caps fitting. You know that.
All one has to do is follow the bread crumbs! This is a trail that Dr. Watson could follow. No need for Sherlock Holmes.
But you may continue to fool yourself that you are fooling somebody.
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@ donna .Well excuse me after all it has been said ac is not the sharpest tool in the tool box so such symbolic tones or phrasing above my pay grade
Leave such to people of your know all intellect
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Last word! This is a new day! No more time to waste with liars and hypocrites who have been shown up as such.
My plants await my greetings.
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Simply put Wickham the Grenandians got tired of the long talk the sufferation and empty promises
Imagine a seasoned politician like K.Mitchell having an interest of begging the people to give him one for the road
What a turn off
60 -0 was finally laid to rest in the minds of the Grenandians
People taste for fresh and new beginning took foothold of the politics of Grenada reason why D. Mitchell won
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Can one of the blp foot soldiers tell what method plans goals or initiative govt have on hand in repaying an IMF debt of 928 million in seven years asking for a friend
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ac
Why don’t you buzz off nah!??
What plans did your set of jackasses have for repayment of the funds allocated to the CAHILL scam? the Andrews Scam..or other debt causing idiocy they pursued?
The DUOPOLY and its minions (of which you are the most iconic representative of idiocy) are not in the business of repayment.
Did you not hear Greenidge (the paid messenger) say that they are now borrowing with TEN YEARS grace period?
in OTHER WORDS, some OTHER patsy will get to worry about repayment. THEY get to spend, consult, and leak…
IT WAS THE VERY SAME SHIITE WITH YOUR BUNCH.
The REAL jackasses here are the brass bowls whose children will never get to live in their own house, and who can at BEST hope for one of the ‘Chinese houses’ if they EVER get assembled…. or a return to slave huts
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OK now I understand Bush Tea
That by 2029 seven years from now my grandchildren who are not yet grown ups.that 928 million due would be placed on their shoulders
Thanks for your rambling input which does not apply to a seven year debt due and payable by 2029
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YAWN!!
They are borrowing money NOW (allegedly for the Scotland District) to pay off the loans allegedly due in 2029…. which will then become payable in 2032.
THOSE loans will then be paid off by next year’s loans (allegedly for a New Hospital / new agricultural project / Energy project) etc etc etc … UNTILL the BLP reaches the same stumbling BLOCK that Stinkliar reached in 2016…
Unless we can find someone who can talk EVEN sweeter than Mia, and charm IMF officials (or some. Russian oligarchs) YOUR grand children’s donkeys are grass…. (actually if they are ANYTHING like you, their donkeys are cooked ANYHOW).
…and when we finally end up with the WRONG debt holders, we will have found our new slave masters – which we have been seeking since Tom Adams.
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@ Bush Tea,
I understand your cynicism. Even in these final hours our glorious government is playing PR games in our so-called national newspapers.
We have such poor quality political figures in the Caribbean.
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Last night I dreamed about a backward nation with backward people who had brought in some advanced people from an advanced nation to build an advanced computer system project, but the backward people protested for no reason and the advanced people just wanted to go back home without even caring about the development of the system or it’s implementation
Revolutionary Theme
Dub Revolution Two
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Corruption Lands
My interpretation of my dream is backward nations are supposed to fail and it is inevitable with backward people
Imperial Stepper
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TLSN…and amazingly those FREAK DBLP clans, more susceptible to manipulation because it’s all contrived by colonials…the riff raff of parliament are not creators…..they steal from creatives and always have until now…they created NOTHING WORTHWHILE AND NEVER WILL…but like all dummies….turning themselves into pretzels seeking validation as the slave minded.
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1958 Notting Hill Riots were also followed by:
1981 Toxteth riots
1981 Handsworth riots
1981 Brixton riots
1985 Handsworth riots
1985 Brixton riots
1991 Handsworth riots
1995 Brixton riots
2005 Birmingham riots
2011 Tottenham riots
2011 Brixton riots
2011 England riots
2020 Black Lives Matter protests
Blazing Dub
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“We have such poor quality political figures in the Caribbean.”
as DESIGNED they can NEVER IMPROVE…..
big talkers, big boasters….empty paper bags…
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otherlee
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Thirty to nothing
nada, zero, zilch
Then comes Elsa, vex as brassbowl
followed by Covid, who en leffing atall
an wen de hurricane come, we done done done.
To be continued, maybe or not. Wunna know I does write bare foolishness.
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Pacha….bits and pieces are coming out, waiting for a big announcement in the next few years…
“Speaking during the UN’s daily press briefing on Friday, Dujarric noted that the Caribbean is among the world’s hardest hit by worsening climate impacts, despite having contributed among the least to the problem, due to very low emissions.
In March, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) designated the Caribbean region as highly climate-vulnerable, meaning its people are 15 times more likely to die of climate impacts.”
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Be prepared.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=5
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The next update will be issued at 5 p.m. on Monday.
https://www.nationnews.com/2022/06/27/hurricane-hunter-investigate-weather-system/
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This is worthy of critique.
“https://www.nationnews.com/2022/06/28/btmi-ceo-push-bajan-culture/
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My limited education deso not allow to understand what was written.
” Bajan culture was “the brand of Barbados”, contending that “Destination Barbados is not a logo or tag line or colour. Instead, it is collectively what it means to be Bajan and what the Bajan experiences collectively bring to the world”.
Just beyond my comprehension.
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Load of shite…he is getting over 1/4 million????? a year with perks and the best he can do is push tourism DEPENDENCY AS A CULTURE……fake culture……tourism slavery that only benefits the few and does nothing substantial for the workers who are robbed by crooks…
after 100 years of tourism and the island looks like a dump from the city and in many other areas the infrastructure looks like a shantytown……yet, they got their go nowhere tourism culture…
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Hants
NOTHING supports Bushie’s brass bowl theory more than the fact of this “slave-driver-looking” white man being actively recruited to come and be the local tourism plantation overseer.
Bushie hereby challenges you to think up a more self-degrading national action than this….
Shiite man, the ONLY thing more self-depreciating (in the bushman’s’ biased opinion) is where a man is willing to admit publicly that he takes dictation nightly from his French husband.
You spend BILLIONS on education for nearly a Century, and then go out looking for a “Euro-albino-slave-owner-descendent” to run your Tourism (National Prostitution) Industry…?
…thus ADMITTING that Bajans are Jack Asses.
Do we have ANY shame left?
NONE!!! cause…
Everything bout here else is ALSO owned/run/dictated by/ controlled by albinos, while the local brass bowls spend every effort trying to emulate their greedy materialistic ways…. No wonder we admire them so…
Shiite man!!
The ONLY good news is that the end of this CURSE on our brass bowl MINDS is imminent….even if it will be traumatic.
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Just saw this on June 25
@ac
“30-0 the ruination continue
60-0 the needle headed towards red
A,90- 0 all be dead”
Short and sweet
I see she no longer needs me to tease out the poetry …
(No. I am not going back to my old schtick)
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Corned beef and fishcakes are two of the traditional Barbadian menu items that Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir would like to stop being fed to children.
Xxcccc
What the minister doesn’t seem to understand that on slave wages handed to many the price of corn beef and flour and saltfish is above the individual pay grade
He needs to take his head out of the clouds put his feet on the ground open his ears and pay attention to the suffering of bajans
Instead of being pretentious about the people health needs
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but what is he eating that he looks so OBESE and ready to KEEL OVER…
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Wouldn’t be surprised if his groceries are shipped via international waters from places like Miami where prices are cheaper
If his administration wants a healthy society a policy must be put in place to address such a concern starting with a liveable wage for barbadians
Cornbread not cheap neither flours oil or salt fish
Also BTW people are forced to buy what they pocket books can afford
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Pacha…watch the SHAME and DISGRACE IN 2022 as it unfolds…
……the population need no more warnings, but SHOULD KNOW THEY have all they need to remove themselves from around these criminals by ANY MEANS NECESSARY……this should come as no surprise that they are being SET UP AGAIN…
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Country trapped
PAYING BACK $800M IN FIVE YEARS IS UNREALISTIC, SAYS HOWARD
By Emmanuel Joseph
A retired university Professor of Economics is warning Barbadians that the Mia Mottley Administration has placed the country in a debt trap that will be difficult to get out of in the foreseeable future.
In a no-holds-barred interview with Barbados TODAY, former Head of the Department of Economics at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Emeritus Michael Howard, said Barbadians don’t seem to understand the true state of affairs in which they have been placed.
Professor Howard has suggested that the Government needs to come clean about the real level of its spending and debt, arguing that its forecast for settling the $815 million debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by 2027 is unrealistic.
“I do not fully understand how we are supposed to pay it back, over $800 million.
I don’t know how we propose to pay it back when that time comes. We don’t really have any resources to pay back debt, so it is going to be a problem. That was my biggest concern that we are in a type of debt trap because everything you want to do you have to borrow in order to generate income and jobs,” the senior economist contended.
“It is really difficult for me to say that it is going to be an easy path for Barbados in terms of paying back debt in the future,” the former Head of Economics at the UWI declared.
The academic said with the volatility of the global market, high costs of imports and an overvalued exchange rate for Barbados, it would be difficult to predict how soon the debt could be repaid.
“I really do not know what timeline one could identify to pay back a debt of nearly $900 million. It baffles me really,”
Professor Howard stated.
“Over time between now and 2030 you are going to be borrowing more money in order to maintain the economy because we do not earn as much foreign exchange from tourism as we would like. I think it is a problem for the officials. People sometimes like you to ‘soft soap’ and say nice things, but we are in a debt trap,” he stressed.
The top economist also suggested that this country will have to extend the IMF-funded Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme which expires in September this year.
Turning his attention to the options available to Government, Professor Howard thinks that over time, the Mottley Administration needs to embark on less ambitious developmental programmes.
“Rather than trying to build 10,000 houses, I think we have to find a way of not doing so much, but providing the people at the bottom, the lower-income groups with things to cope and survive,” Professor Howard said.
He is of the view that a development programme has to be set up to identify sources of income and the amount of money Government proposes to spend over a period of time on certain construction work.
“Right now, I don’t get a good impression on how much the Government is spending, how much it is borrowing, what exactly are its plans in terms of its accounting framework being used,” Professor Howard told Barbados TODAY.
He contended that the IMF could be a valuable source of much discipline. “I think the discipline imposed on the Government would be good for Barbados. Left to their own, I think this Government will spend a lot of money and then look to borrow money from somebody.
“So I think the IMF will impose a level of discipline which is required on the Barbadian Government in terms of putting down these programmes and making them more achievable within a certain framework,” he noted.
However, Professor Howard admitted that fiscal discipline comes with “a little” hardship.
“Bajans need to be told you cannot get things easy all the time and to go through all of this you have to exercise discipline and reduce spending on a lot of non-essentials. Even in this Crop Over, there is a lot of spending on costumes. There is also a need to get discipline on your own consumption spending,” he urged.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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“A retired university Professor of Economics is warning Barbadians that the Mia Mottley Administration has placed the country in a debt trap that will be difficult to get out of in the foreseeable future.”
Angela….the people cannot say THEY DON’T KNOW THEY ARE BEING SET UP FOR A TRAP…..how many of us on BU have WARNED THEM FOR YEARS….despite being ATTACKED by the IGNORANT…
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Even ‘Four Seasons’ Persaud must be able to follow the OBVIOUS commonsense logic of Dr Howard.
Mascoll, perhaps not so much, since he is just a political opportunist singing for his supper.
This therefore confirms Bushie’s assertion that this government (meaning Mia) is concerned ONLY with getting their hands on borrowed funds to fund her personal agenda over the next five years or so, with MINIMUM repayment responsibilities. After which, she will likely, LIKE STINKLIAR, ride off to a big pick with some international agency, while Bajan Brass Bowls are stuck with the jobby.
But we fully deserve to be so disrespected.
We continue to put our faith in these dishonest lawyer/politicians over and over, although they let us down each and every time – even the yardfowls such as ac and Lorenzo who occasionally get some of the scraps, will come to see how they have been screwed. (note that Bushie does not include Enuff in the victims list)
Thank you Dr Howard for your professional honesty – a refreshing difference in brassbados.
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merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along.
” Concrete block manufacturers across Barbados are between a rock and a hard place as they struggle to supply the heightened demands of an emerging building boom.”
doan have to read fuh wunna.
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Faced with a $2 billion economic contraction and related $600 million fall in revenue, Government would have found it “completely impossible” to finance Barbados’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic without borrowing more money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others.
Now having taken on the increased financial burden, the IMF and other key players in the international community need to give Barbados and other countries the room to more easily manage the debt related to COVID-19.
Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Ryan Straughn made this clear yesterday as he defended Government against criticisms that the country’s debt had ballooned under the current administration’s stewardship
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“need to give Barbados and other countries the room to more easily manage the debt related to COVID-19”
This has been the plan all along. Guilting loan owners into debt forgiveness. Appreciate all these figurehead loan agency top dawgs, it isn’t THEIR money.
And it is a good time. For otherwise, the “west” haven’t had this many lame duck leaders, all at once, in a long time, if ever. A fact Putin understands well.
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Given recent new goings on….they are DEFINITELY out of their depth no matter how they run around the international arena…, but now out of debt…..let see how FAR they are willing to take this before the IMPLOSION…
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but NOT out of debt…OR..
.i won’t hold my breath for the or…
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The lovers of 60-0 gone quiet
Any port for a storm
Mouths shut tight
S Barbados heads done a seismic course of economic disater
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All that money govt pumped into the Chinese economy to build houses should have been spent at home increasing employment
Barbados and across the regions has carpenters masons and many craftsmans
But No Mia decides to pull a political rabbit our of her hat sending millions of dollars all the way to China
Now the question all.wants to.know is how and who will.pay the debt
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Interesting.
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/a-glass-of-ocean-water-quebec-company-wins-award-for-desalination-technology
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Debt covered
GREENIDGE SAYS NO ISSUES REPAYING IMF
By Emmanuel Joseph
The Senior Economic Advisor to the Government is reassuring Barbadians that the country does not have a debt problem.
“Even with modest growth production, we will be able to pay back all of our debt. We have no debt problem,” Dr Kevin Greenidge told Barbados TODAY this morning.
In fact, in dismissing the concerns about the ability to meet repayment obligations, Dr Greenidge noted: “Unless Government stops taking revenues…even right now, we have enough reserves at the Central Bank to cover, not just the IMF repayment, but all external debt about 10 times over.”
Dr Greenidge said that while the $870 million that was borrowed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may seem like massive debt, it literally breaks down to less than one cent in every revenue dollar this year and four cents at the height of the payback period in 2026.
He was responding to assertions of retired Head of the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus, Professor Emeritus Michael Howard who told Barbados TODAY on Tuesday that the Mia Mottley Administration had placed the country in a debt trap that will be difficult to get out of in the foreseeable future.
Professor Howard suggested that Government needed to come clean about the real level of its spending and debt, arguing that its forecast for settling the $815 million debt to the fund by 2027 was unrealistic.
But today, Dr Greenidge said he wants to make sure Barbadians are not given the wrong impression and cause panic and fear over the issue.
“Debt is not an issue for Barbados right now. As long as we continue to manage our debt and borrow responsibly and put it into productive things, it is not a problem,” said the economist. He is contending that Barbadians need to have the issue put in context, instead of persons simply focusing on the debt figure.
He said that based on the average interest rate of one per cent, “the IMF money is the cheapest money in town” and the loan is well within the country’s ability to settle.
“Howard said paying back [over] $800 million [by 2027] is unrealistic. First, put it in the context of our overall debt…It’s actually $870 million right…is 6.4 per cent of our total debt, which is a small portion of the total debt. Our total debt is now $13.4 billion,” Dr Greenidge explained. According to him $870 million of that is going to the IMF.
“The number looks big, but it is small in the grand scheme of things. And by the way, that $13.4 billion used to be $17.5 billion prior to the BERT [Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation] programme,” added the senior economist who was seconded from the IMF to advise the Government.
“Now it has to be repaid by 2029 and the interest rate is averaging one per cent. This year in 2022, we will pay back $92 million from the Government revenues. That is, 0.3 per cent of Government revenue will go to pay the IMF debt. In other words, less than a cent out of every revenue dollar will go to pay the IMF this year,” he disclosed.
“Next year, it’s going to go to two per cent of revenues. In other words, less than two cents out of every revenue dollar will go to service the IMF debt. Two cents. By the time we reach 2026…that is the height of when we are repaying the debt, it is going to be 4.3 per cent of projected revenue debt. Do you know what is 4.3 per cent of projected revenue? Four cents out of every revenue dollar,” the top economist asserted.
“You could not say that, by any stretch of the imagination, is unrealistic when you are taking less than a cent this year. Next year you are taking less than two cents, then it goes to three cents and by the end of the height of your repayment period, it is going to be four cents out of every revenue dollar.
That is manageable under any circumstance,” Government’s senior economic advisor stressed.
Dr Greenidge assured Barbadians that by the time the loan is repaid in 2029, it would only have cost taxpayers an additional $52 million in interest for borrowing $870 million.
“That is the cheapest money you could get anywhere in the world. The borrowing is very small relative to our total borrowing. It is easy to repay because we can handle it because we borrowed at a low-interest rate; and that money that we borrowed, you can see it in the economy,” he declared.
Dr Greenidge listed new garbage trucks, electric buses, a new quarantine centre, medication, support to protect those Barbadians on welfare, $150 million paid out by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and assistance to “a whole host” of people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as ways in which the financing can be seen at work.
“We didn’t borrow and threw the money in the garbage. It was used to support and help us respond to the shock because of that (pandemic),” he added.
“Because we moved the debt to 176 per cent of GDP prior to the BERT programme to 170 per cent prior to COVID, that allowed us the space to make the additional borrowing to do what we need to do,” he stated. The economist noted that the debt rose again to 140 and now it’s on the way back down…As at the end of May this year it is 127 per cent of GDP.
“And that includes the IMF borrowing, and we project that it will continue that downward trend particularly when the economy starts to grow,” the senior economic advisor told Barbados TODAY. emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
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Barbados’ debt trap is real, says Wood
Senior economist Anthony Wood says the pronouncements of Professor Emeritus Michael Howard on Barbados’ precarious debt situation must be taken seriously by Barbadians. Wood noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt since government entered the programme in late 2018 amounts to $870 million with the government expected to repay $928 million by 2029.
Wood, who once served in the Cabinet of late former prime minister Owen Arthur, said Government’s senior economic adviser, Dr. Kevin Greenidge, the IMF and the USA Treasury Department, were optimistic that Barbados will be able to service the debt in full within the stipulated repayment period.
Conversely, he noted Dr Howard, a retired Professor of Economics and specialist in Public Finance, had serious reservations about Barbados’ ability to repay the IMF loan based on the current economic trajectory of the Mottley administration.
“Professor Howard’s contention must be taken seriously given what has transpired since the administration was able to reduce the national debt from around 17.1 billion dollars to just under 12 billion dollars (and the debt to GDP from 171 per cent to just under 120 per cent) in late 2018 when the debt restructuring/repudiation programme was concluded. We should be reminded that domestic debt holders (National Insurance Fund, Central Bank of Barbados, Private Financial Institutions and individuals) suffered in a disproportionate manner compared to external debt holders when the administration repudiated (refused to pay) about 4.5 billion dollars of the 17.1 billion dollars in debt.
“At the time of the debt restructuring/ repudiation programme the size of the Barbados economy was over 10 billion dollars and the important foreign-exchange generating tourism sector was performing well. However, during the period of the IMF and other external loans accumulating, the Barbados economy declined to around 8 billion dollars at one point and the tourism sector virtually ground to a halt at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Excessive borrowing during a period of rapid economic decline will naturally present difficulty for a government to service its debt,” Wood told Barbados TODAY.
He explained that despite the economy showing signs of improvement over the last six months, driven mainly by the tourism sector, the government has continued to borrow substantial sums from external sources. In fact, he indicated that the national debt has risen to approximately 13.5 billion dollars and the debt to GDP ratio to around 130 per cent. He stated that given the paucity of financial and economic information provided by Dr. Greenidge, the IMF and the USA Treasury Department, Barbadians could not accept their optimistic view of Barbados’ ability to easily or adequately repay the IMF loan in full by 2029.
Wood, a former lecturer in Economics, Banking and Finance at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, added that it was nonsensical to discuss the IMF loan in isolation from the other loans granted to Barbados and the reality that other loans will have to be sought over the short to medium term to keep the Barbados economy afloat. He suggested that one source of new loans commencing within six months is very likely to be the same IMF as the government enters a new programme with the institution before year-end. He said the amount owed to the IMF by 2029 is expected to be substantially more than $928 million.
“Without appropriate economic and financial policies over the short and medium term to return Barbados to a sustained growth path, with tourism and other foreign-exchange generating activities yielding very good results, the country’s ability to service the IMF and other external loans will be seriously compromised. If the current situation has to be extended, Barbados will have to engage in heavy external borrowing to prop up the foreign reserves and help with its external debt obligations. In this case Barbados will be plunged further into the debt trap as stated by Professor Howard.
“The discussion on debt should not escape the domestic component of the national debt.
The country cannot afford the administration making the mistakes of the past in incurring substantial debts to the National Insurance Fund, the Central Bank, private financial institutions and individual investors. Such reckless behaviour will undoubtedly stop the economy from progressing and keep the country in the debt trap,” Wood asserted.
(WG)
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Economist Drakes says middleclass Bajans ‘cash poor’
Economist Crystal Drakes has identified what she says is a cash-poor, debt-ridden middle class in Barbados.
She contended on Wednesday that many of those perceived to be in that economic group have found themselves depending on personal loans and credit to meet their needs, while also having to pay their mortgages, car loans and other financial obligations.
The Independent Senator made the observation as she contributed to debate in the Upper House on the Pandemic Contribution Levy Bill, 2022.
Under the legislation, public and private sector employees with salaries of $6 250 or more per month are required to pay one per cent of their earnings in the Pandemic Contribution Levy, for a one-year period.
However, Senator Drakes was curious about how Government had arrived at that threshold and questioned whether it would have been more appropriate to target persons making $10 000 per month.
“That is a significantly different income bracket than a person making $6 250. And, Sir, this is based on the premise that in Barbados, like most other societies, the top earners own a large share of the income of their country,” she contended.
“Sir, there is a research paper titled A Community Divided: Top Incomes in CARICOM Member States. As of 2015, the average household income of the richest 10 per cent in Barbados was three times that of the general population.
“When we look at it from the top one per cent earners, it is even more glaring in terms of disparity. The average income household of Barbados’ richest one per cent had ten times the income of the average household. And that is why I ask how did the Government arrive at the threshold of $6 250?”
The Independent Senator added that it was strange the Mia Mottley administration had targeted the top earners in the business community to pay Pandemic Contribution Levy, but not the high-income earners.
Telecommunications companies, life and general insurance companies, businesses engaged in the sale of fuel, and commercial banks with a net income of $5 million or more in financial years 2020, or 2021, or both, are subject to a levy of 15 per cent of their net income.
Senator Drakes said she was trying to rationalise whether the Government was attempting to earn revenue from top earners but was roping in persons in the middle class who should not have to contribute to the levy.
(AH)
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Senator Drakes said she was trying to rationalise whether the Government was attempting to earn revenue from top earners but was roping in persons in the middle class who should not have to contribute to the levy.
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Crystal
The damn people are just clueless…. and making knee-jerk decisions.
One cannot “rationalist” what an idiot is thinking…..
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Such a sad heartbreaking story and some in Barbados walking around with head stuck high in the air pointing fingers at other countries
BTW where is the AG what is he being paid to do
Economic and social decay is prevalent in this country
A young life with potential lost at the hands of gun violence
DEADLY LIME
UWI STUDENT SLAIN AT BIRTHDAY GATHERING
By Anesta Henry
Seventy-year-old Patricia Moore is finding it difficult to stop the tears from flowing as she struggles to come to grips with the loss of her grandson Tyrese Caesar, one of the two young men killed in a shooting incident at Orange Cottage, St Joseph last night.
Moore cried out that while the entire family has been thrown into a state of shock and sadness, the pain Tyrese’s mother Jacqueline Caesar has been feeling since receiving the tragic news about the death of her only child can best be described as a significant burden for a mother to bear.
“He was my only grand and she is my only child. He didn’t have to die so. You don’t look forward to burying your children at all. He would have been 21 in September,” the grieving grandmother said.
“His mom is not coping well. She was here with me all morning. None of the family is doing well. It is not easy, but we are here trying to strengthen each other. His mother gone off to the doctor and as soon as she comes back then I will go.
“But she last saw him last night. Because when she saw him last night she just passed her hand on his chest and say ‘the hair on your stomach is so pretty’,” Moore added.
Moore who said she witnessed Tyrese birth, described the young man as a fun-loving person. She said she last saw him on Tuesday when he inquired about whether she liked the blouse and sandals he gifted her for her 70th birthday which she recently celebrated.
“Tyrese was a nice guy. From the time that you see him he would just cling to you, that was who he was. The personality, and from the time you see him, you get that bounce from him,” she said.
Acting Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Stephen Griffith said officers responded to the area around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29, after a “number of explosions” were heard.
On arrival, they discovered the bodies of 20-year-old Tyrese Caesar of Durants, Christ Church outside the Cottage Bar and Grill; and 34-year-old Trae Harris of French Village, St Peter.
Nineteen-year-old Seth Towler of Heddings, St Philip, was also injured and taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) for treatment.
The grandmother said she was informed that her grandson was attending a birthday lime at the Orange Cottage where he was killed.
Tyrese is a former student of Queen’s College and The St Michael School. Moore said he was currently pursuing studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.
She said he loved motorsports, but noted that he also had a strong upbringing in the church.
“He used to do a lot of praying for you and laying hands on you,” she said.
Tyrese recently returned from visiting Canada with his mother and stepfather, and Moore said she and the young man were planning to have an enjoyable time on an upcoming overseas trip.
“We already have our tickets to go to New York next month and he told me ‘gran we are going to have a good time together’. We were looking forward to that trip,” Moore said as the tears continued to flow.
Moore’s sister, Sonja Eastmond, who stood at her side offering comfort and support, also failed to hold back her tears.
Eastmond said everybody loved Tyrese.
“He was a sweet child. He would always check up on you.
He was just that kind of child,” Eastmond said.
Meanwhile, Moore lamented that she was fed up with the level of gun violence taking place in Barbados.
“It is too much. One time in the older times you would try to pick up a stick or something and try to hit at somebody, or run for help. But every mimute now it is just guns, guns, guns,” Moore said, while shaking her head in disbelief.
When Barbados TODAY visited Harris’ French Village, St Peter home his relatives opted not to speak about his untimely passing.
There was a sombre mood at the Horse Hill community where the two men lost their lives. Residents were not willing to comment on a possible motive for the deadly event. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
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Continue to scour local news for every rh negative story.
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DavidJuly 1, 2022 9:26 AM
Continue to scour local news for every rh negative story
Xxxxxx
Sorry bro I did not create the news I reported what is being talked about
You can always keep holding your head high pretending that all which is happening does not apply to Barbados
Meanwhile keep sticking your nose in America problems in avoidance of Barbados problems
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