The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgevia, arrived in Barbados on Tuesday for a four-day visit with the Barbados government indicating that no decisions on a future program with the Washington-based financial institution would be made this week.
But Prime Minister Mia Mottley, commenting on the first-ever visit of an IMF managing director to the Caribbean, told reporters, no decisions on a future program would be made this week.
“We’re not making the decision this week,” she said, adding that discussions started Monday with the social partners.
“We’re going to have conversations with the Fund and we will make the decisions in the next few weeks.
“But rest assured that the same government that said to the world and the IMF that we want a balanced approach that puts people at the center of our adjustment still is going to have the same approach whether we go back into a program or we don’t. By the same token, even if we go into a program, the time has come for Barbados to tell its story to the international capital,” she added.
On Monday, the IMF announced that Kristalina Georgieva, is to participate in a panel discussion on capacity-building partnerships for a more resilient Caribbean on Thursday.
She will be joined on the panel by Prime Minister Mottley, and the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Timothy Antoine, who is also chairperson of the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) Steering Committee.
The discussion will be moderated by Ilan Goldfajn, the Director of the IMF Western Hemisphere Department.
According to the Washington-based financial institution, since the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Caribbean policymakers have had to respond to the immediate and enormous challenges posed by the pandemic, while continuing to implement structural transformations to make the region more prosperous, inclusive, and resilient to natural disasters, the climate crisis, and fiscal risks.
Georgieva will also participate in a one-on-one conversation with Dr. Simon Naitram, lecturer in Economics at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill (UWI) and President of Barbados Economics Society, Thursday and the following day participate in an IMF High-Level Panel Discussion on Building Resilience and Sustainability in the Caribbean.
She will be joined during the one-hour discussion by Prime Minister Mottley, and Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland.
The discussion will be moderated by Jamaica’s Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke.
Prime Minister Mottley and Georgieva will host a joint news conference on Friday
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