Shuffler sees no confidence with home-grown approach

A leading private sector representative is not convinced Government has the right fiscal strategy, calling its 19-month adjustment programme “sluggish and well behind targeted pace in both revenue generation and expenditure cutting”.

Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Tracey Shuffler said the programme had clearly not “brought with it the confidence that our economy will be fuelled up and ready for growth over the next three to five years”.

The business executive was also disappointed that a more than year-old suggestion for Barbados to engage with the International Monetary Fund using “a hybrid approach” had “so far been roundly rejected”.

“At that time we had suggested that Government engage in several expenditure cuts while rationalising Government agencies to help restore public finances, thereby improving the level of confidence of the investor community. In short, this would have been a ‘home-grown’ adjustment programme,” Shuffler recalled.