The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is less optimistic about Barbados’ growth prospects this year, warning that COVID-19, especially its Delta variant, had “hobbled” the global economy’s recovery.
In January, the international financial institution forecast Barbados’ economy would grow by 7.4 per cent this year, but lowered its prediction to 4.1 per cent in April.
Now, in its World Economic Outlook released yesterday, the IMF said growth this year would be 3.3 per cent, followed by 8.5 per cent in 2022 and 1.8 per cent in 2023.
The 3.3 per cent forecast matches what the Ministry of Finance outlined in the Barbados Fiscal Framework 2022/2023 to 2024/2025 tabled in Parliament recently, and is the range of the one to three per cent outlook that Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes gave in his second quarter report. (SC)
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