No quick fix for Barbados economy

Finance and Economic Minister Christopher Sinckler is warning Barbadians that they should not expect "quick fixes" to the national and global economy and dismissed as "foolishness" calls for a change in economic policies every three months.

"We must all recognise that there are no quick fixes to either the global or domestic economic situations," Sinckler told a news conference.

Wholesale changes to economic policy every quarter "because we don't achieve every target we set ourselves exactly as we wanted" is not sound economic management, he said.

"That is foolishness! What we must do is to look at the picture in totality. In spite of the tough global conditions we are managing to see progress on several fronts. Is it good enough? Absolutely not! Can it get better? Yes, it will get better."

Sinckler said Barbados is likely to experience marginal growth this year, the fourth consecutive quarter of positive economic output.

This contrasts with the previous five or six quarters of economic decline which peaked in 2009 at near five per cent when the global economic recession was at its worst.

Referring to the recent report from by the Central Bank of Barbados, the Economic and Finance Minister said it "clearly demonstrates the very heavy impact which the unsettled financial and economic conditions internationally, and particularly among Barbados' key trading partners, are having on our national efforts to forge a full recovery from the economic recession".

But he said the national economic recovery could also be affected by high fuel and commodity prices and a weaker economic recovery in North America.

"Both situations have, in fact, become realities," Sinckler said, noting while it is unlikely that this situation internationally will change significantly enough to affect a turnaround in the domestic economy, it does not spell doom and gloom for Barbados.

"What this says to us as a country is that while the recovery is not as robust as we would have liked during this year so far, and while we still have some way to go to restore our levels of output to those levels consistent with the pre-crisis period, the sky is not falling on us and the earth has not opened up under our feet. We are making progress and the overall trajectory of our economy is going in the right direction," said Sinckler.

"Our objectives as a country over the next six months to a year must be to sustain current and forge new strategies to expand our economy; stay on course with our programme of debt reduction through fiscal consolidation; protect and where possible create new jobs for Barbadians through higher levels of foreign direct and domestic investment."