by Harry Mayers

PERHAPS I SHOULD NOT have been wondering, but I was: what does the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados mean when she speaks about "waiting for another green light"?

At her Press conference last Tuesday, Dr Williams was referring to the question of proceeding with exchange controls as they relate to CARICOM.

It is clear that in the current environment of globalisation, the concept of freeing up everything is very much in vogue.

In particular there is the need to chop up much of the red tape that governs capital flows in our Caribbean region, which yearns to integrate policies, regulations and services in a meaningful way.

However, the new David Thompson Government manifesto helped me understand the wisdom of keeping the foot on
the brakes: "A new DLP [Democratic Labour Party] Government will, to the extent possible, adopt a sequenced approach
to capital account liberalisation within the CSME consonant with the soundness of the macro-economic environment and the vulnerability to external shocks."

The DLP promised to immediately review current Central Bank procedures for approving capital account transactions with a view to simplifying and speeding up the approval (or denial) process for restricted transactions.

It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that the Throne Speech on February 12 will indicate whether we are on red, red and amber, or even green.