Divide over IMF forecast

GOVERNMENT is not daunted by the negative forecasts on the Barbados economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says Cabinet Minister Donville Inniss.
However, president of the Barbados Economic Society (BES) Jeremy Stephens said the forecasts reflected a lack of confidence in the Barbados Government to implement key projects that would help boost economic growth, while opposition parliamentarian Kerrie Symmonds saw them as proof of the Freundel Stuart administration’s failed policies.
The IMF is projecting that Barbados will be the only country in the western hemisphere that will not record economic growth this year or the next. It projects a negative growth of -0.8 per cent this year and -1.1 per cent next year.
Speaking to the issue yesterday, Inniss, the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business, said bleak predictions should serve as a wake-up call for all Barbadians to double their efforts and prove the international body wrong.