TRADE UNIONISTS are remaining cautiously optimistic concerning the recent Standard & Poor’s upgrade for Barbados.
The credit rating agency has moved the island’s long- and short-term foreign currency rating six notches up the scale, from selective default (SD) to B-/B.
In response, Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados general secretary Dennis de Peiza said it was a positive step but Barbados still had a way to go.
“Any such upgrade has to be taken in a relative context. We were at junk status, so our position now depends on where this upgrade places us and what level of comfort we can attain. Going forward, we have to see what the levels of improvement are and see if investors are confident enough in our economy again to prepare to invest,” he said.
In terms of jobs, de Peiza said the upgrade would mean little to Barbadian workers until investor confidence was improved and Government could get its capital projects, which have been in limbo since “time immemorial”, under way. Even then, he advised further caution.
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