Moody’s downgrading of Barbados raises further ire

(Barbados Nation) Government’s management of the economy came in for a battering on Tues-day following Moody’s Investor’s Service triple point downgrade  of Barbados’ credit rating from  Ba3 to B3, pushing this country further into junk bond territory.

Economists, business organisations, politicians and civic leaders here and  in New York all said the downgrade  was expected, and showed Government needed to get “serious” in achieving  an economic turnaround.

Grenada’s Prime Minis-ter Dr Keith Mitchell weighed in on the situation remarking that the depth of Barbados’ economic problems caught him by surprise, and asserted that he did not know they were so serious.

In its report on Monday, Moody’s said the size of the downgrade reflected the reinforcement of negative fiscal trends given the increasing size of the country’s fiscal deficit and their expectation of continued challenges to Govern-ment’s efforts at fiscal consolidation.