Barbados’ fiscal discipline is paying off in the early months of Government’s new financial year.
Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes yesterday revealed that the fiscal surplus and primary balance achieved between April and June was the best for any “comparable quarter” in the last 30 years.
And while noting that the 0.2 per cent economic contraction in the first six months was expected, the veteran economist said Barbados needed promised major investments to bear fruit so the economic recovery can pick up steam heading into 2020.
“The ongoing fiscal reforms contributed to a favourable out-turn for the first quarter of the fiscal year, with the overall fiscal surplus and the primary balance estimated at 1.7 per cent of GDP and 2.4 per cent of GDP, respectively, the best performance realised in any comparable quarter over the past 30 years,” Haynes said during his half-year review.
The Governor said the fiscal success was largely due to the fact that Government has kept its spending in check.
“By far the most significant contributor to the fiscal consolidation has been reduced spending. The interest savings from the domestic debt exchange and the suspension of commercial external debt payments accounted for 80 per cent of the $164 million fall in current expenditure,” he said.
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