Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler has started his presentation of the Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals in Parliament, outlining how Government plans to intervene to bring this economy back on track.
At the start of his presentation just before 4 p.m., he said this was the season to be frank, honest and productive while engaging people in Barbados and the rest of the world.
He said the missionof the Government was to set out just how to deal with the economic issues confronting Barbados, offering an intense intervention of the state to secure the growth needed.
Sinckler admitted that the macro-economic programme had gone off track and needed to be brought back in line.
Giving an early overview of the sectors including construction and tourism, Sinckler tracked how these industries had plummeted over the years.
He said the difficulties of the situation had in some cases become too much for some employers to hold on to employees, he said, while dealing with the troubling problem of unemployment.
More coverage of the 2013 Budget