Barbados’ economic outlook has been upgraded as the country battles a new COVID-19 wave and prepares for next Wednesday’s General Election.
The Central Bank now believes that the economy will weather Omicron and other highly contagious variants of the virus to grow by 14.2 per cent this year, thereby reclaiming the near $2 billion in output lost during the pandemic, and that 11 000 more Barbadians will find employment, with the pre-COVID-19 labour market predicted to return by year-end.
The more upbeat forecast is detailed in Government’s inaugural Pre-election Economic And Fiscal Update Report, which the Public Finance Management Act of 2019 mandates has to be published no later than five working days after the Nomination Day preceding a General Election.
Noting that these outcomes were hinged on factors including the speed of the global economic recovery, and the effective execution of planned medium to large-scale investment projects, the Ministry of Finance also said revenue was expected to improve marginally, while expenditure was on course to increase slightly by the end of the financial year on March 31. (SC)
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