Prime Minister Mia Mottley at government Headquarters (M Elcock/BGIS)
By Caribbean News contributor
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Attorney General Dale Marshall and Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados continue to dismiss critics of the government of Barbados on economic decisions to lower debt burden, critical to stabilizing the economy, stated that, White Oak Consultancy has been playing a significant role in preventing many more layoffs than occurred under Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme.
Mottley acquired a distressed $5 billion economy when she assumed office last May, swiftly struck a $290 million deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and revamped around $6 billion in local currency debt.
The government owes around $700 million in dollar bonds, plus bank loans and other foreign debts, in January and bonds maturing in 2035 have rarely traded in recent months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Steadfast to revamp Barbados debt, Mottley, “will not compromise” on “unsustainably high debt responsibility”, with the aim of taking that ratio down to 60 percent by the year 2033, reiterated, “In 1991 to 1994, we had a problem with our foreign reserves but today we have a problem with our reserves and with our debt.”
This has been a sticking point and a long discussion sometimes at odds with creditors to revamp substantial sovereign debt loads.
At a Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) public meeting held recently, Mottley explained: “In 1991 to 1994, the Erskine Sandiford-led administration sent home 4,000 public servants and cut salaries by eight percent. In 2014, when we met here, the Dems had already sent home 3,000. Your government (BLP) has said no, we are not putting workers on the frontline of change in this country and we would ask the people who were making profits in the banks to bear the burden. That is what White Oak has helped us to…
