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Buckle Up – Central Bank Economic Review About the Numbers

The keynote of Governor of the Central Bank Cleviston Haynes’ latest review of the performance of the economy was about growth for 5 consecutive quarters. The blogmaster is happy we are seeing an uptick in economic performance. Who does not want to see growth EXCEPT the ignorant and those rabid political partisans. Oftentimes we forget…

The keynote of Governor of the Central Bank Cleviston Haynes’ latest review of the performance of the economy was about growth for 5 consecutive quarters. The blogmaster is happy we are seeing an uptick in economic performance. Who does not want to see growth EXCEPT the ignorant and those rabid political partisans. Oftentimes we forget an economy is about how people in a country efficiently utilize resources with a goal of supporting a reasonable standard of living. 

However, five consecutive months of growth in the local economy, if one considers that in 2019 the global economy was significantly impacted by the pandemic should not be waved as a pretext that it will be business as usual. It is known by all and sundry our economy has a structural problem. The blogmaster recalls Dr. Frank Alleyne in 2008 – at the time serving as financial adviser to late Prime Minister David Thompson’s adminsitration- making the point there was an urgent need to address a tired economic model inherited from Barrow. It is 15 years later and the conclusion any fair minded commentator can make is that there has been negligible change to the structure of the local economy. We continue to be over reliant on tourism. It is understandable given the natural beauty of the Caribbean people will want to visit for a price BUT too far east is west.

Of mighty concern is the average Barbadian seems blissfully unaware the challenge the island is currently facing because we are a price taker in a global economy that is seeing a spike in inflation for commodity and services. It is fashionable of recent to blame the disruption to global supplies because of COVID-19 and Ukrainian Russian conflict or a slow down in the US economy which is forecast to enter a recession soon with the Fed intervening for a second time to raise interest rates. The performance of the US economy is important for Barbadians to take note given the parity of the Barbados dollar to the US dollar. Through it all too many Bajans continue to expect a broke government to be able to fund conspicuous consumption habits, giving credence to the adage – a people with champagne taste and mauby pockets.

Where do we go from here?

To a simple way of thinking, we have a people comfortably living a lifestyle that is unsustainable and has to be continually supported by debt financing. We have also the situation of successive governments, in order to maintain popularity, fueling the addiction of citizens to conspicuous consumption by borrowing. And thirdly Barbados is plugged into a capitalist system which will drag us along with it IF…We are truly in a pickle. A situation which older folk describes as one not being able to tell the other comeback. 

Your guess is as good as this lowly blogmaster where we are headed. We may agree that if we continue to buyin to the notion that our borrowing is within our capacity to repay without factoring the inherent risks of a small developing state, we should sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride to the Economic Cliff.

Central Bank of Barbados Governor Cleviston Haynes delivered the Bank’s review of Barbados’ economic performance in the first half of 2022 and took questions from the media and online audience.

328 responses to “Buckle Up – Central Bank Economic Review About the Numbers”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    On behalf of the BU household please accept our apology for the abrupt departure from the blog in recent days. There were competing priorities which had to be attended. Thanks to all of you who expressed concern by posting to the blog and sent DMs. Appreciated.

  2. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    @David
    Welcome back David.

    Recognizing and managing competing priorities sometimes necessitate taking drastic action.

  3. Critical Analyzer Avatar
    Critical Analyzer

    Unfortunately, we missed the golden opportunity COVID presented us with to permanently restructure our economic in record time.

    We allowed the inmates i.e. Doctors and Public Health officials to scare Management i.e. Elected Officials into abdicating their responsibilities and allowed the inmates to run the asylums of the world i.e. Countries.

    We should have taken the opportunity the COVID years gave us to restructure our tax system from our consolidated fund way of managing tax collection and spending to one based primarily on taxing and charging fees for specific purposes and causes. E.g. Road taxes collected should only be used for covering road related expenses in the budget.

  4. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    David
    You’re still alive on Planet Earth like Selassie I
    We (as in I and I and I) thought you were fed up with the substandard comments
    and were suffering from moderation PTSD

    Track: You Thought I Was Dead (Extended Version)
    Artists: Lee Perry & Dub Syndicate
    Format: Pay It All Back Volume 3 (LP)
    Label: On-U Sound
    Year: 1990 (Recorded in 1990)

  5. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    At the macro level big numbers are up / At the micro level little numbers are down
    and the people buck up on a hard times
    Rich are getting richer everyday
    the poor are getting poorer in every way
    the little that the poor man has shall be taken away
    and they will fade away
    do you hear what I say

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @CA

    Without agreeing to the specifics of where the transformation and restructure should have occurred, there should have been more visible interventions taken.

    Wasn’t the government quick to deliver a haircut to domestic and foreign bond holders days after taking office?

    Never let a crisis go to waste some say.

    Anyway, we are here now. Do we go with Bush Tea’s assessment we should throw our hands in the air or does hope spring eternal.

    MOTTLEY you were given an unprecedented mandate, you have the largest cabinet design to make light work – get on with it. Be the change maker.

  7. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Great to have you back.
    It is good to have the steering wheel back in safe hands.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    The following article piqued the curiosity fir several reasons given the rile China has taken in recent years to bankroll developing countries. We been to be more discerning as a so-called intelligent people.

    https://harvardpolitics.com/belt-and-road/

  9. David Avatar
    David

    Govt gets $102m from Central Bank
    The Central Bank added about $102 million to the public purse in the quarter ended June 30, as Government looked to more domestic sources for funding.
    This is the largest such funding that the monetary authority has provided to Government since $99.3 million was transferred between April and June 2019.
    Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes is hopeful, however, that Barbadian investors will regain their appetite for Government securities, as that would go a long way towards helping the authorities meet their financing needs.
    Two issues of Treasury notes, each worth $125 million, were put on the market last November and in April, the first issuance of these instruments since bondholders lost millions of dollars in the 2018 domestic debt restructuring.
    Speaking Wednesday during his second-quarter media conference at the Frank Collymore Hall, Haynes said demand by the private sector for Government’s recently issued Treasury note placements “remained weak and the Central Bank was the main source of domestic financing during the quarter”.
    The act governing its operations permits the Central Bank to buy Government paper under predetermined conditions.
    Financial need
    Asked about the Central Bank’s financing of Government, Haynes said that while Government had a substantial primary surplus of $255 million, it also had “a financing need that needs to be addressed . . . not just only this quarter, but . . . over the medium term”.
    “So in the context where we were not borrowing significantly on the external market, either through multilaterals or via the capital market, then the reliance becomes on the domestic market,” he said.
    “Beginning in . . . November last year, we put two issues out $125 million each, and . . . the premise of that is that the Central Bank would take up those bonds. The general public was also given an opportunity, if they so desired, to buy into these bonds, because what we want to be able to do is to test the market to see what appetite there is . . . and therefore we want to be able to get the market functioning again.”
    “In the context of the bonds that were issued from November, there was some very modest take-up by the broader public, and in the absence of that the Central Bank took up some of those bonds. I think, as at the end of June, we were holding probably like $120 million of the bonds; we have not taken them all of them all at once, because we want to give the public that opportunity, if they so desire, to be able to take these bonds, rather than rely on the Central Bank.”
    The economist said the authorities were hopeful that “we get to the point where persons feel sufficiently confident that they will invest in the instruments that Government is putting on the market. It takes a few years before the market responds to the fact that you have had a debt restructuring, but . . . in many, if not all countries, after about three or four years, then the market begins to return to a sense of normalcy. And that is really what we would want to be able to see in our market at this time,” he said.
    (SC)


    Source: Nation

  10. David Avatar
    David

    Sensible people understand Dr. Ronnie Yearwood as DLP leader has a job to do but as stated in the blog and subsequent comment, this is a time for leadership above trivial comment designed to win emotional support.

    DLP: Bajans not feeling growth
    The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) says it is pleased with the “noticeable economic growth” of 10.5 per cent revealed by Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes since the economy was liberated from the COVID-19 shutdowns.
    However, it has cautioned that the average Barbadian is not seeing it translated into benefits.
    The reported growth, the party argues, may be overstated and is likely to be revised downward when the actual point-to-point inflation numbers are better reflected in the real GDP estimates.
    In reviewing the economy’s half-year performance on Wednesday during a media conference at the Frank Collymore Hall, Haynes urged Barbadians to “take heart” from the ongoing economic recovery.
    “The economy registered its fifth consecutive quarter of growth between April and June. The expansion, though vibrant, was weaker than in the first quarter, but growth for the first half of the year remained in double digits,” he said.
    Contracted
    The DLP has questioned whether there was real
    growth if the economy contracted by 16 per cent in one year and there is 10.5 per cent growth.
    “The party applauded the Governor . . . for confessing to Barbadians that the rising prices have given Government a revenue dividend – a windfall that gave some room to provide relief to Barbadians from the rising cost of living.
    “This is a fundamental point that the Democratic Labour Party has been making for months now, while Government ministers and its advisors were trying to argue otherwise,” the DLP said in a release yesterday.
    It was still “very concerned about this administrations’ heavy reliance on the Central Bank of Barbados for domestic financing after consistently criticising the former Government for doing so”.
    The DLP said the bank purchased $120 million of Government securities since November last year, adding that the heavy reliance on Central Bank financing was a key point of contention as it showed the ongoing financial challenges being faced by the administration.
    “This heavy reliance on Central Bank financing – which is a return to printing money – must be addressed. If this is continued it could weaken this economy further and place it in a perilous
    situation. The party advised that the recently touted and much publicised BOSS 2 programme, which is now being pushed to the wider Barbadian public beyond the public sector workers, is something Barbadians should question. According to the Central Bank, take-up of Government securities by the local institutions and individuals has been weak.”
    Financial challenges
    The Dems said Government was “obviously facing financing challenges domestically” since the debt restructuring.
    “This cannot be ignored. This could have a detrimental impact on the economy if left unresolved. So while we welcome continued growth of the economy, the reality is that due to the continuing cost of living challenges, too many Bajans are not feeling that growth in their daily lives.”
    Pointing out it was halfway through the year and not one of the promised capital projects had started, the DLP said that was an indication of “a Government which continuously seeks to control the narrative and be seen as doing for Barbadians, but little to no actual rewards”.
    (PR/AC)

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Find and finance yourself

    By NICK NUNES
    LIVE below your means.The notion may seem controversial but so is reality. Once upon a time, and sometimes still, it has been recommended to budget onethird of a yearly salary towards a rent or mortgage—good luck with that.
    Exponential increase in cost—cost of living, transport, everything—has dwarfed the increases in compensation. Regardless of skill or training, the cost of time takes the greatest toll on humanity.Time away from living a fulfilled life is worth far more than the sum it costs to live that life.
    Throughout recorded history there have been whines of ‘no one wants to work’ or other likewise nonsense.Yet, productivity has always over-folded profit—at least for the regular Joe.The only way that company profits exist is through the plight of the proletariat that creates the product or service profited from.
    “Amazon and Target saw huge profits as the world shuttered,” according to Business Insider. Not speaking solely of American actions, the wages in
    Barbados compared to the egregious salaries and bonuses of big business Barbados make pallid and squalid the compensation meant to pretend to measure up as a part of one of the Caribbean’s most flourished economies.
    How are the most disadvantaged to compete with a system founded on disproportion? The new wave of investment is one way to tip timid toes into the waters of investment. Blockchain or bitcoin or e-currency are scary terms that can yield something spectacular.
    Lotto, scratch cards, and gambles of all kinds lose millions to the maybes of uncertain futures.Watching spending and wiser investing provide the seats and seeds to more solidly founded futures. How do you manage your money? Do you set up a monthly budget or just wing it and hope for the best while navigating the most wealthdisproportionate time in human history?
    One of the most popular methods of money management is putting a bit of one’s salary in a credit union. Cooperatives continue to be a rising shoulder to sit atop and bolster the ability to save and budget. Credit unions tend to employ a wide array of financial experts that are there to help as through cooperation and member growth means mutual benefit for all those involved.
    According to a Brookings report,“The failure of nearly all companies to live up to their pledges to pay their workers ‘fairly’ was not for lack of any investment in workers. In fact, most companies raised wages in the first 22 months of the pandemic, at least nominally.Yet due to a combination of high inflation and, more
    importantly, a very low starting point, the vast majority of workers still earn too little to get by.”
    It will always be up to the individual to find whatever methods are available to get by in this cut-throat capitalist world.Asking for advice from credit unions and financial gurus that have their own methods of money management can be the best way to sort out a financial safe future.

    Source: Nation

  12. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Ooh baby it’s a White World and it’s hard to get by just on a smile
    Ooh baby it’s a White World I remember you like a child
    It’s like the Devil’s pickney come in a your yard.

    USA and UK want all the Worlds Wealth and do not want developing countries developing as they are paranoid they will be treated the same way they treated others with all the tricks they used on me when they were saying I was me but a Rastaman will bring civilisation on you and Jah Jah Children are blessed with melanin and can absorb the energies of the universe spiritually.

    If you check out world populations for equitable wealth distributions in a level playing field for laissez-faire economics natural growth

    A small circle of India and China has over 50% of world population
    Africa has 20% and a young population

    These are the biggest growing world markets with highest ROI that West want to get a foothold in and mantrol

    The collapse of the West is good not bad or bad meaning good

  13. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    When govt speaks of growth the first question asked by the working poor is how does the growth help them to improve their daily livelihood
    This good news Therfore is met with loud steupse from them as their livelihood still remain in negative territory while those in a higher bracket from which their financial leverage increase mostly those of the business and corporate world sings hallelujah
    Unless that growth is spread evenly that poor and working stiff can see themselves rising out of poverty territory growth numbers remain meaningless to them

  14. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Here his where the problem lies

    Mixed signals
    DLP AND APP QUESTION GOVERNMENT’S ‘RELUCTANCE’ ON PAY INCREASE CALL
    By Randy Bennett
    A wage increase for public servants is merited based on the Central Bank of Barbados’ most recent report, says President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr Ronnie Yearwood.
    In fact, he accused the Mia Mottley-led Government of “wanting to have its cake and eat it too”.
    Similar sentiments have also been expressed by leader of the Alliance Party for Progress (APP) Bishop Joseph Atherley, who said Government had found itself in a “conundrum” because it was not being entirely honest with Barbadians.
    Their comments have come one day after Governor of the Central Bank Cleviston Haynes revealed that the country’s economy had grown by 10.5 per cent for the first six months of the year.
    However, Haynes poured cold water on the suggestion that now was a good time to give public servants a wage hike.
    In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Dr Yearwood pointed out that with Barbados’ economy having previously contracted by 16 per cent, the 10.5 per cent growth stated by the Central Bank meant there had been “no real growth”.
    He said it would have been “a more straightforward approach” if the Central Bank had presented the information in that manner.
    “I think the Government and perhaps the Governor is practicing what we call cakeism. He’s trying to have his cake and he’s trying to eat it too and this is why the Government is having problems with the narrative and the call for a wage increase, because here the Governor is announcing that we had growth, the economy is doing great, we’re bouncing back, unemployment is low. If that is the case then productivity should be going up. But on the other hand they’re saying we can’t afford reasonable wage increases and they need productivity gain. So which story is it?” Dr Yearwood asked.
    “I think that’s the problem and that’s why they’re always going to have this call for wage increases, because if they were more straightforward with where they are, then perhaps they wouldn’t get that direct call. But the reality is if they’re making the argument and they are, that we’ve got growth, the economy is booming ahead, we’re out of the cloud so to speak, then the argument for wage increases looks legitimate.
    “The Government can’t have it both ways. They’re either having growth and doing magnificently well and can afford wage increases or the growth that we are having is not real and therefore we can’t afford wage increases and that’s why I say they’re trapped by their own story and that’s why I call it cakeism,” the DLP leader maintained.
    Atherley, the former Opposition Leader, told Barbados TODAY he believes Government’s reluctance to grant a salary increase to public servants was due to the fact it was preparing to enter into another agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
    He said the IMF’s strict goals would limit Government spending.
    “Government finds itself where it is sending mixed signals that it can’t afford a wage hike. You are boasting of relative growth and growth signs and at the same time you are spending money in the areas that are fairly questionable and not properly being accounted for… “I think part of the problem that faces Government, the position in which it finds itself, is that Government anticipates that it will enter into a new arrangement with the IMF. Once you do that in the current circumstances the IMF will insist that you revert to a situation where you are intending to achieve a primary surplus of six per cent. Now, because of the COVID situation, we were allowed to run a lower surplus to run a deficit of one per cent.
    But if you go into a new arrangement then you will be in a situation where the IMF will insist you have to go back to levels of about six per cent primary surplus,” Bishop Atherley suggested.
    “That has implications for Government’s spending and Government knows it will be constrained in terms of the kind of monies it is able to spend on a public sector wage bill.” randybennett@barbadostoday.bb

  15. Magnificent a.k.a Magno – Yu Heard Formula: C₂₁H₃₀O₂ IUPAC ID: (−)-(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl- 3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro- 6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol Avatar
    Magnificent a.k.a Magno – Yu Heard Formula: C₂₁H₃₀O₂ IUPAC ID: (−)-(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl- 3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro- 6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol

    White Man Brain wants to divide and rule to conquer from old school book of hook and crook
    Babylon don’t want peace
    Babylon want war
    That’s why there’s war inna Babylon
    It sipple out deh

    Brains like sieves
    White Man Brainwashing says
    ☑ India good
    ☒ China bad
    ☑ Ukraine good
    ☒ Russia bad
    ☑ South Korea good
    ☒ North Korea bad
    and so on and so forth
    but this is all relative anyhow
    if India status grew then Indian state would be moved from good to bad

    Oriental Landscapes

  16. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Oh what a tangel web is weave when practices are plans mostly to deceive
    Also makes for wonder if that growth message is precisely meant to send a message to other international lenders that Barbados can be trusted on the financial market our reserves are doing well.and we can borrow and repay as our economy climbs upward
    This govt has skilfully used smoke and mirrors to fool the people
    Now seems as if govt is moving forward with a plan of borrowing which will entice foreigners markets to lend govt money
    Meanwhile at home the tax burden and high prices increase on the backs of struggling bajans and govt has yet to find a way of decreasing

  17. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Touch the Sound
    A sound Journey with Evelyn Glennie

  18. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Silence

    is

    probably one of the loudest sounds

    and heaviest sounds

    that you’re ever likely to experience

    At the end of the day

    we still know that within

    everything that we see

    The sound

    we know that

    we just don’t have that sensitivity

    to hear what is going on

    around us

    The opposite of sound

    definitely isn’t silence

    in my mind anyway

    um…

    I think the…

    I don’t even know if there is such a thing…

    well there must be an opposite actually…

    but um…

    what that is

    I don’t know

    I believe Richard Long said artists are people who touch with the nergy they had when they were children which never left them and so that sense of seeing something or hearing something for the first time and being excited by it

    I think you know you should try to hang onto that

    In the end it’s about listening
    period

    I mean it starts from listening

    and it ends with listening

  19. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Your early life is full of sound and that sound is always redolent with a certain part of yourself that you don’t lose if you hang onto the sound

    In a way improvisation the narrative involved in improvisation is your whole life up to that point

  20. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Old what’s her face will never ever clap for any of Mia’s achievements but will clap loud to Yearwood’s imaginary achievements that he has not ever realised

    one sided biasedness is a thing

    Evelyn Glennie | Clapping Music by Steve Reich

    In this video, Evelyn performs Clapping Music by Steve Reich. The piece was composed for two performers, each using their hands to clap out the rhythm. Evelyn is using Sabian Mini High-Hats, Sabian Triple High-Hats, Adams Temple Blocks and her signature ProMark drum sticks.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    @Kiki

    Less is more, relax!

  22. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ David
    “Do we go with Bush Tea’s assessment we should throw our hands in the air or does hope spring eternal.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    SOoooo good to have you back…

    BUT Bushie’s assessment is NOT to throw our hands in the air, It is to TURN to our ONLY LOGICAL hope for survival…

    If However wunna CHOOSE to ignore the ONLY lifeboat in sight, then wunna may as well throw wunna hands in the air and await wunna fate….
    …BUT not stinking Bushie….

  23. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Didn’t we establish that the trigger thoughts required for the ‘masses’ to exercise logical thought given current state is a non starter?

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Didn’t we establish that the trigger thoughts required for the ‘masses’ to exercise logical thought given current state is a non starter?
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Then YOU are the one throwing your hands in the air Boss….

    Bushie has ALWAYS said it simply requires a GENUINE search for the truth….
    Ask – and it SHALL be given
    Seek – You WILL find
    Knock – and the door WILL be opened…

    …Note the importance of ASKing…. 🙂

  25. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Isn’t a case the masses are intoxicated by whatever they are smoking and have no inclination to ask about anything?

    Seems to be a circular argument.

  26. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    So happy to see that you are back!

  27. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    whatever they are smoking and have no inclination to ask about anything?
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    Simple matter then Boss…
    Prepare to die….

  28. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Something spooky
    How is it possible for Bush Tea and David to disappear from cyber space at the same time and return at the same time at the same venue
    I am asking to receive
    Seeking to find
    Knocking hoping the answer would be given

  29. David Avatar
    David

    Thanks Donna, warm fuzzy feeling to be missed…LOL. Especially by the ladies…LOL.

  30. David Avatar
    David

    @ac

    In the same way ac can disappear and reappear as Mariposa or whatever the handle is. Move on.

  31. Magnificent a.k.a Magno – Yu Heard Formula: C₂₁H₃₀O₂ IUPAC ID: (−)-(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl- 3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro- 6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol Avatar
    Magnificent a.k.a Magno – Yu Heard Formula: C₂₁H₃₀O₂ IUPAC ID: (−)-(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl- 3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro- 6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol

    Over 18..
    If you feel like Smoking..
    have a Smoke..

    Smoking

  32. John A Avatar
    John A

    Glad to see you still above ground !

    So the last government ” sold” their paper to the NIS and this one got the central bank buying theirs due to ” soft demand” by the public. Well what did we expect after the restructuring?

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    This is why the item of news attracted the blogmaster’s attention. We need analysts/commentators to rigorously explore these matters in the public space. The average Joe seems more to be concerned with buying a car, phone or watching the latest movie.

  34. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Through the covers, bisecting the fielders all along the ground, FOUR RUNS!

    TOO SWEET!

    ac dispatched in grand style, FIRST BALL!

    Back to the mark.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    The idiocy of an intelligent world continues to go it’s mercy way. It is the capitalist system stupid!

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/29/energy/exxonmobil-chevron-earnings/index.html

  36. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    DavidJuly 29, 2022 8:45 AM

    @ac

    In the same way ac can disappear and reappear as Mariposa or whatever the handle is. Move on.

    Xxxxcc
    Oh dear didn’t mean to step.on yuh toes and let the cat out of the bag

  37. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    When stripped of all the pseudo verbiage Re: how we got here; where we going and where we come from, one simple fact remains: in terms of the broad interpretation of socio-economic development, the period 1937-1976 , remains the gold standard.
    Since then, what we have witnessed is nothing more than the intellectualisation of social and economic development.
    As @ Pacha implies , it simply cannot hold.
    What has been our economic and social policy for the last 50 years. Nobody can seriously answer that!
    However we will see three major tools: free secondary education ; the growth of the trade Union movement and perhaps the establishment of a UWI campus.
    In other words all three pillars had one common ingredient: education. This includes the establishment of a Labour College.
    Now, we are witnessing the decline in socio economic development: the educational system no longer serves social and economic goals; the Labour movement has been neutered; and Cave Hill is producing students who can’t find decent employment.
    If we come down from the pseudo mountain, we will discover that socio economic planning without a purposeful
    Educational system, will flop.
    Peace.

  38. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Sounds familiar

    By Africanews 

    with AFP

     Last updated: 20 hours ago

    KENYA

    As a familiar campaign jingle brings the Kenyan crowd to their feet, Hellen Atieno joins her compatriots and sways to the catchy tune at a political rally in the lakeside city of Kisumu.

    Just don’t expect the 23-year-old to vote. “I have only come to the rally because there is money. I hope there will be something,” Atieno told AFP, referring to the widespread Kenyan practice of offering freebies to prospective voters.

    Currently without a job, the former fishmonger says she is so fed up with the country’s insular political class that she plans to stay home when Kenya votes on August 9 in parliamentary and presidential polls.

    She is not alone. The East African economic powerhouse ranks among the world’s youngest countries — three-quarters of Kenyans are aged under 34, according to government figures.

    Many have no interest in participating in an electoral process they widely dismiss as corrupt and pointless.

    The number of registered young voters has dropped five percent since the 2017 poll, in contrast to over-35s, whose tally has increased, Kenya’s election commission announced last month.

    Over 22 million Kenyans are eligible to take part in this year’s polls, with young people accounting for less than 40 percent of that number, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) said.

    ‘A dirty game’

    Politicians have responded with a freebie bonanza, offering cash, umbrellas, shirts, caps and even packets of maize flour — a dietary staple — to anyone who attends their rallies.

    The bribes — an electoral offence that can attract a fine of up to two million Kenyan shillings ($17,000) and/or a six-year jail term — are not new to Kenyan politics. But galloping food inflation — made worse by the war in Ukraine — and an unemployment crisis have intensified the appetite for such handouts.

    According to census figures published in 2020, about five million young Kenyans were out of work.

    Brian Denzel has spent recent weeks hitting one rally after another, eager to pocket the cash on offer, even though the 19-year-old butcher has no plans to vote and sees politics as little more than “a dirty game”.

    “Who will reject the free money that they are given?” he said, while waiting in line to collect 200 shillings ($1.70) from a local politician.

  39. angela cox Avatar
    angela cox

    Along with a failed education system
    There also comes a point and time when govts must realized that feeding the 1percent while leaving the 99percent to fend for selves would eventually result in a socio economic collapse of the system

  40. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Ronnie: “the 10.5% growth reported by the Central Bank of Barbados(CBB) may be overstated and is likely to be revised downward when the actual point to point inflation numbers are better reflected in the real GDP estimates. “Further, if the economy contracted by 16% in one year and there is 10.5% growth, was there real growth?”

    Ronnie (a day later): A wage increase for public servants is merited based on the Central Bank of Barbados’ most recent report.

  41. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David

    Glad to see you back. You should have taken some more time off from this circus, though.🤣

  42. David Avatar
    David

    At some point more relevant themes must breakthrough as far as the national narratives is concerned. We seem to be hearing the same people linked to political organizations saying the say thing with a twist to fit narrow agendas. What about credible voices from academia and other NGOs? We need an independent voice we can turn to to compare with say a Jeff Cumberbatch when he was the independent voice (or so it seemed) when he commented on law/legal matters.

  43. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Is there a difference between the NIS and the Central Bank that makes it less troublesome to Barbadians?

  44. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @ David

    I posted a comment about 2 hours ago would appreciate you checking your spam

  45. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David good to see you back on BU.

    BarbadosToday online pages 34 and 35. Eye candy. lol

  46. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ Sargeant,

    This is weekend to focus.

    Crop over and Toronto Caribbean carnival. I will be watching on tv and You Tube.

  47. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Warm up notes
    “Through the covers, bisecting the fielders all along the ground, FOUR RUNS! TOO SWEET! ac dispatched in grand style, FIRST…”

    What amazed me was that ac started to act as if she was missing him. Some strange But relationships are work.

    I guess we have our favorite ‘opponents’

  48. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    @enuff
    Not really interested in your spin.

    You have pointed out the inconsistency in Ronnie’s Obama’s statement, but would had love to hear your thoughts.

    Given the phenomenal growth can a wage increase be placed on the table. Give reasons why or why not.

  49. David Avatar
    David

    The growth has to be understood given where the economy was in 2019. There was little to no activity, thousands were laid off in the private sector, more debt was accumulated etc, with the reopening of economies obviously there will be ‘growth’ but we have to understand what that translates to in real terms. This is what the blogmaster meant by Dr. Yearwood joining the bandwagon to press emotional buttons. The NUPW is asking for consideration for a wage hike for the public sector. Bear in mind when the private sector was sending home employees at the height of the pandemic the government continued to pay public sector salaries.

  50. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    David

    Greetings to you. I join those other contributors who welcomed your ‘safe’ return.

    Read that Antigua and Barbuda’s PM Gaston Browne has rejected a proposal from Nigerian carrier, ‘Air Peace,’ to purchase 75% shares in LIAT.

    During his “Browne and Browne” show on Point FM99.1 radio on July 23, 2022, the PM said a meeting of Caribbean heads-of-state was scheduled for August 2 to discuss the way forward for LIAT and determine the airline’s future structure.

    I haven’t heard PM Mottley or Tourism Minister Lisa Cummins, articulate what are the Government of Barbados’ future plans for LIAT, especially as it relates to if investment will be an option of priority.

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