Owen Arthur Warns Of Turbulence Ahead For Barbados Economy

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, New York

14 September 2001

Earlier this week Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur warned that along with the rest of the world, the Barbadian economy might suffer a little turbulence and the jobless rate could rise.

“The rest of the world is going through a period of economic turbulence and it may well be that our employment rate may rise from 9.3% to near 10%" said the Prime Minister.

Mr Arthur, who was out campaigning for a by-election due shortly, told his listeners however that they were 'safe in his hands'. He said the island’s economy has seen eight years of sustained growth and his administration had moved Barbados from a disastrous financial state ten years ago to the stability and success it was now enjoying.

“I can come tonight with pride and tell you that as compared with ten years ago when there was only $11 million in our foreign exchange kitty, today there is over one billion, one hundred million, a hundred times more in less than ten years,” he said.

The Prime Minister said he wasn't claiming the credit for himself, because he had made others work hard on the voters' behalf and he would continue to do so. He said he had not taken a vacation in seven years and had worked himself and others hard “in order to put our economy beyond even the most remote possibility of getting back into the kind of trouble that it experienced under the DLP”.

Recommended