Claiming?to be bemused by the 2013 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, economist Ryan Straughn says the Government is not willing to take advice and has failed to take the necessary measures to take Barbados on a growth path.
Pointing to what he predicts will be a historic decline in foreign reserves in the first quarter, the president of the Barbados Economic Society, Ryan Straughn, said that judging by the recent positions taken in the Estimates, it appeared to him that Government did not seem to fully understand what the problem was and was struggling to take the critical measures.
Speaking yesterday evening in Bank Hall at a Barbados Labour Party (BLP)?St Michael West Institute panel discussion with fellow economist Clyde Mascoll, Straughn said the choices the Government made would be critical and the time had come for drastic decision-making.
“It has become clear to me that the current Government has little or no interest in seeking economic advice,” he said. I?am concerned not only about the state’s finances but our ability to manage our own affairs. Whether it is the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Caribbean Development Bank, Standard &?Poor’s, Moody’s, local or regional economists, it doesn’t seem to matter, everyone is basically saying the same thing about this country’s finances, but yet there is no specific action being taken to remedy the situation.
