Barbados can’t avoid the IMF, says Mascoll

July 22, 2014•2 Minutes
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The Barbados Government will soon have to sit down and talk with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for access to cheaper capital.

That’s the view of economist and advisor on economic matters for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), Dr Clyde Mascoll.

Speaking at the BLP’s mass political meeting at Carlisle Bay car park on Sunday night, he said the Freundel Stuart administration wanted to give Barbadians the impression that its effort to restart the economy was without the influence of the IMF.

“Barbados is in no condition to avoid the help of any institution such as the IMF,” he told the crowd. “Barbados has a growth problem. Barbados has an unemployment problem. Barbados has a foreign exchange problem. Barbados has a debt problem, and Barbados has a financial crisis.”

He described the crisis facing the country as unprecedented, noting that Government had to borrow in excess of $40 million monthly to pay civil servants.

Mascoll said the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) led by former prime minister David Thompson used all types of techniques, including allegations of stealing, to win the reins of government from the BLP.

He claimed that when the BLP left office, unemployment was 6.7 per cent but had now risen to beyond 20 per cent in 2014.

“The economy is smaller than it was in 2007, national debt is way higher than it was in 2007 and between 2008 and 2014, this Government had borrowed more money than the Owen Arthur administration borrowed in 14 years and there’s nothing to show for it,” he added.

“Barbadians are hurting and suffering and the municipal solid waste tax is just another blow that would kill the old cow; it’s just another nail in the coffin.”

Mascoll contended that the dire position being faced by Barbados was the direct result of overspending by the Government.

He also charged that the impositon of the solid waste tax had nothing whatsoever to do with waste, since for decades Barbadians had been serviced by the Santitation Service Authority.

 

Source-Nation News