‘Tough’ two years ahead for Barbados

(Barbados Nation) Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes accepts Government’s “strong” austerity measures will be “tough” for Barbadians over the next two years.

However, he stressed it was better for Barbados to make its major fiscal adjustments up front, having deferred the adjustment for a period. “The adjustment appears to be tough at this point. Once we can get past those first 18 months [to] 24 months, then the benefits of the programme become clearer. The critical thing here is we need to be able to engender the confidence that facilitates increased investment into the Barbados economy,” the economist said during his third quarter Press conference at the bank on Wednesday.

Some economists have said the six per cent of gross domestic product primary Government was pursuing would cause major hardship in Barbados.