Barbados Pushing For Economic Recovery

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

27 May 2011

Barbadian economic recovery remains on track, as government plans take hold and ministers eye a new period of economic expansion, Finance Minister Chris Sinckler has said.

Speaking to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sinckler stressed that the country must stay focused, and stick to the programme.

He detailed the government's economic aims, and stressed its priorities remain the return of fiscal discipline to the public accounts in the short to medium-term, the reduction of public sector debt levels to "more acceptable and manageable levels", the maintenance of employment where possible, and the restoration of economic growth "in the fastest possible time behind the resurgence in our main economic sectors".

Sinckler added: "Now is not the time for the faint-hearted, or weak-kneed, for half-measures or the wait and see game. A significant part of the success we achieve in emerging successfully from this recessionary period will be dependent not just on the resurgence of the global economy, even though that will play a large role, but the recovery must be underwritten by us in Barbados".

In addition, Sinckler argued that foreign investment must be matched by a domestic investment platform, while "joint partnerships between government and the private sector must become a structured feature of the economic landscape, even as government seeks to reform itself as a key driver of the process of innovation and investment".

Recommended