As Government creates more fiscal space, it must pay more attention to the challenges Barbadians face and continue to focus on improving implementation.
Independent Senator Kevin Boyce made that recommendation as he called for some fundamental issues, or “low-hanging fruit”, to be fixed.
He was speaking on Wednesday during debate on the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean Bill 2025.
Boyce said the legislation, which was passed, made sense and should be supported.
“I don’t think anyone has an issue with regard to the purpose of the legislation, which is the full membership of CAF. I don’t think anyone can have an issue with regard to the access of billions of dollars for developmental drives. I don’t think anyone can have an issue . . . where we seek to work with other developing countries to further our interests,” he said.
“I think the Government can say, ‘Look, we have created this fiscal space by the steps that we have taken’. I don’t think anyone could argue with that. I don’t think anyone can argue with the fact that accessing other forms of financing, especially for the stated purpose of climate adaptation and resilience, is prudent.
“I don’t think anyone can have an issue with funding available for private sector development and, of course, for Government projects,” he added.
Fundamentals
However, the attorney said there were “some fundamentals that we need to keep working on, because they continue to be an issue”.
“Having spoken to someone from St Lucy, a close friend of mine, his indication
was, despite all the rhetoric, the water is still discoloured. So, this is what we call the low-hanging fruit in terms of what we could address with this fiscal space,” the senator said.
“The issue of the roads. It’s a fact, whether the financing is coming from the ministry, whether the financing is coming from an international agency, the issue of the roads is low-hanging fruit that we can look at.
“The issue of licences and the difficulties with regard to printing, which has been a perennial problem; the resources for team members to be able to do what they do with the current situation with regard to licensing and the registration of vehicles.
“The issue with regard to Accident & Emergency (A&E) has been debated. We see money being made available to the [Queen Elizabeth] hospital. You have to commend [this] in terms of resources and improvement, yet the wait time at A&E still is what it is.”
“These are topics which the Barbadian public are debating. We are seeing now that we are getting access to more monies, and we’re seeing we’re getting access to more fiscal space.
“So, if I can distil in a neutral manner the issues which captivate the attention of the public with this fiscal space, the request is, what can we do to facilitate the resolution of these issues? And that is why governing is not easy,” Boyce said. ( SC)
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