So far, so good is how some economists and political analysts have assessed Government’s first year in office. However, one of them, University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer Dr Justin Robinson, thinks the next 12 months could be the toughest part of the big fiscal adjustment Barbados faces.
At the same time, Democratic Labour Party leader Verla De Peiza claimed that while the focus was on the economy, “the whole social fabric of Barbados melted”.
Political scientist Peter Wickham gave Government an “A” for its overall strategy and communication, calling it the administration’s “most significant achievement”, but there was an “F” for how the sugar industry was handled.
With the Mia Mottley administration’s first anniversary having passed on Friday, Robinson, who is Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at UWI, said the decision to seek the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) help was the driving force behind addressing the lack of access to financing, low and declining foreign reserves, high deficits and high debt. (SC)
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