Barbados has received its final report card from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the country’s Extended Fund Facility programme, and just as reported in the six previous missions, Barbados is well on target with all of its goals.
The review is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board next month and once given the thumbs up, US$23 million will be made available to Barbados.
Speaking at a press conference held at Ilaro Court this morning, head of the IMF team Bert van Selm praised Government for keeping on track with what he described as an ambitious programme under trying circumstances, brought on by a series of exogenous shocks
“In this very challenging environment, Barbados continues to make very good progress in implementing its ambitious and comprehensive economic reform programme. The qualitative targets for December 2021 to the end of March 2022, have been met. International reserves which reached a low of around US$220 million in May of 2018, are now at a comfortable level of US$1.5 billion,” said van Selm.
He added: “Government undertook the initiative to facilitate renewable energy projects, doctored initiatives for fiscal rule while the Customs department took steps to facilitate greater trade facilitation and risk management… For the fiscal year that is now ongoing, the authorities are targeting a primary surplus of one per cent of GDP with revenue projections premised on a continued projection in tourism.” (CLM)
Read the full story in the Saturday Sun.