PROFESSIONAL ECONOMISTS in Barbados are warning Government that unless it begins to deal decisively with cutting its recurring expenditure, the country’s bond ratings will be reduced to speculative grade.
The dire warning came yesterday from the Barbados Economics Society (BES) on the heels of the latest negative outlook earlier in the week by the international rating agency Standard & Poor’s which lowered Barbados’ economic outlook from “stable” to “negative”.
S&P said the move reflected the rising risk of a downgrade “should the combination of lacklustre growth and insufficient fiscal adjustment within the next 12 months indicate a higher debt burden or a rising debt service burden that impairs fiscal flexibility”.
The BES said while the outlook was not “good news” it should not have come as a surprise either since it merely reinforced that of another international rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service, in its June 13 review of the economy which the Central Bank presented in its third quarter review last month. (AB)
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