One path

Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Dr DeLisle Worrell has asked Barbadians to be patient and hold strain. The Governor was speaking yesterday at his quarterly Press conference.

By GERALYN EDWARD, Business Editor | Thu, November 01, 2012 - 12:10 AM

HOLD STRAIN AND BE PATIENT.

That was the message from Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Dr DeLisle Worrell, who has called on Barbadians to recognize that unless the country earned more foreign exchange, the policies to depress their spending would have to continue in order to protect the entire economy.

In his quarterly Press conference, Worrell said yesterday that Barbados required foreign currency for almost everything it used.

However, he said the country’s relatively healthy foreign reserves position of $1.31 billion was the reason why the island could keep the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at bay despite nearly five years of slow growth.

“The IMF is not in a position to tell us anything. That is the beauty of having adequate foreign reserves. We had to engage in an IMF programme in 1991 because we were out of foreign exchange. Now we are paddling our own canoe,” he told members of the media at the Central Bank’s Bridgetown office.

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Posted by Carl Harper 6 months, 2 weeks ago: Dr Worrell butting heads with IMF director, Christine Legarde, over devaluation in small economies like ours, in an out-of-place showdown does nothing to change the flawed fiscal policies of this government.

Dr Worrell is now admitting over 20 years later that the policies of the then DLP administration were indeed wrong going into the 1991 general elections, when we were led to believe all was well with the economy.

Why should I believe that in 2012, on the eve of another elections, the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy is the right prescription to bring us out of this fiscal mess?

A blind man on a trotting horse can see that the news on the economy is getting worse - tourism down, unemployment up, NIS borrowing continuing etc - even though the governor has attempted to sidestep providing timely quarterly comparative data in his recent Press conference.