Mia Mottley says the new BERT plan is to maintain achievements
Key Points(5)
- “We have set ourselves the target that as we move to become world-class by 2030, we minimize the level of poverty in this country to as close to zero as possible.
- The Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan 2022 builds on what we have achieved in one of 2018.
- We set ourselves the target of debt and fiscal sustainability,” Mia Mottley told Parliament on Tuesday as she debated the resolution on the new financial measure.
- We used to say that all the time.
- We set ourselves that target, and we’ve largely achieved it.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley has reiterated that the objective of the new Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) Plan 2022 is to keep the positives that were achieved under the previous BERT program.
“We have set ourselves the target that as we move to become world-class by 2030, we minimize the level of poverty in this country to as close to zero as possible. The Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan 2022 builds on what we have achieved in one of 2018. We set ourselves the target of debt and fiscal sustainability,” Mia Mottley told Parliament on Tuesday as she debated the resolution on the new financial measure.
“Stop the bleeding! We used to say that all the time. We set ourselves that target, and we’ve largely achieved it. We are not quite out of the woods, but in order to get out of the woods, we have to work on the other things that trigger growth, that would have inclusive growth. Everything we have done as a government speaks to carrying along our people.”
She told legislators that when her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) had assumed office it had done so against difficult circumstances.
“Barbados was the third most indebted country in terms of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Only Japan and Greece had worse metrics than we did. We had a combination of factors that literally sucked the oxygen and was threatening to debilitate the patient completely.
“I refer to high debt…. high persistent fiscal deficit which went as high as ten to 11 percent at one point. We also reached a situation where our reserves were effectively down to four or five weeks. The growth of our Barbados economy was effectively on pause since 2008, and it continues to be, regrettably, because of the measures we had to take and also the circumstances we face,” she added.
She told legislators that the new BERT Plan 2022: The Fiscal Year 2022/23-Fiscal Year 2026/27, is also designed to forge ahead on the proposed reforms which had to be delayed because of the impact of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
She said with the BERT program saving the government four billion dollars (One Barbados dollar=US$0.50 cents) over the last four years, it was much easier for her administration to seek another program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The government said under the new BERT, it will also adopt open labor market policies to support stronger, resilient growth together with expanding the population base and improving productivity and competitiveness.
CMC/
