A MINIMAL 0.9 per cent economic growth has been forecast for Barbados by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the lowest among regional states for 2016.
The bank also forecast that the Trinidad and Tobago economy, as well as Suriname’s, would contract this year.
Focusing on Barbados, director of economics Dr Justin Ram said neither tax increases nor improved tourism numbers were translating to significant economic growth.
“In Barbados, what we have found is that although tourism arrival numbers have increased significantly, particularly in 2015 with arrivals increasing almost 15 per cent, the value-added associated with this has not been as strong and in fact in 2015 value-added associated was only about 0.9 per cent,” he said during the CDB’s Annual Review and Forecast Press conference yesterday morning.
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