Conflicts affecting local economy

Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler is warning Barbadians that the country’s economic growth projections could be derailed because of conflicts taking place in the Middle East and North Africa.
Senior officials in the Ministry of Finance have already put Government on notice that the continued social and economic disturbances in that part of the world could stunt growth plans as oil prices spiral again to record high levels.
Sinckler said he has asked senior officials in the Finance and Economic Affairs Ministry to do an analysis of the “potential impact of the turmoil on macro fundamentals and possibly to see how this could push back our expectations for growth going forward”.
 “Our main assumption was that the main impact will be felt in the price of fuel,” he said, adding that the developments would likely lead to a major disruption in global oil supplies.
“It is the expectation that oil prices will move even closer and surpass the US$100,” he told the Lower House today.
What the Freundel Stuart administration is not going to do, Sinckler said, was to subsidise energy use in the country to the tune of $80 million as the previous Government did and threatened the solvency of the Barbados National Oil Company.