Barbados heading for financial crisis - former PM
Key Points(4)
- Former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur says he is concerned that the island’s Central Bank could soon be running out of foreign reserves and that the island is headed for a serious financial crisis.
- Arthur, an economist, who served as prime minister from 1994 to 2008, said the reserves at the bank have fallen from BDS$1.5 billion to BDS$600 million and that the Freundel Stuart government has three months to get its act together to avert a total collapse of the economy.
- Arthur, a former finance minister, also said that the bad policy of printing money to cover government’s deficit over the past few years is partly responsible for the country’s current economic situation.
- He said measures such as project funding and privatization geared to boost the economy have not worked and that the government has exhausted its ability to borrow from local banks, the National Insurance scheme and on foreign markets thereby running out of options to support the foreign reserves.
Former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur says he is concerned that the island’s Central Bank could soon be running out of foreign reserves and that the island is headed for a serious financial crisis.
Arthur, an economist, who served as prime minister from 1994 to 2008, said the reserves at the bank have fallen from BDS$1.5 billion to BDS$600 million and that the Freundel Stuart government has three months to get its act together to avert a total collapse of the economy.
Arthur, a former finance minister, also said that the bad policy of printing money to cover government’s deficit over the past few years is partly responsible for the country’s current economic situation.
He said measures such as project funding and privatization geared to boost the economy have not worked and that the government has exhausted its ability to borrow from local banks, the National Insurance scheme and on foreign markets thereby running out of options to support the foreign reserves.
