“Harry,” said an angry caller on my cellphone, “you ai’n spit when the gully out. I follow every one of your articles, but nobody is taking you on.
“You see that man Professor Michael Howard, well he is from the university, and when he speaks no damn dog bark.
“Imagine he tells Bajans that the most important thing is to protect the most vulnerable group in the society [by now we are all the most vulnerable, I said to myself]; that Government cannot pursue counter-cyclical or expansionist policies; that firms will go out of business or develop creative measures to stay in business [the lions will eat the goats – Trimart, for example]; and a whole heap of advice directed at the new Minister of Finance.
“But just as the old Minister of Finance chose to distance himself from what you advocated, I hope for better things to come.
“But, Harry, don’t be disheartened; keep writing. I have all of your articles. I keep them in a book written by Henry Miller.”
The time has now come to review our situation. Having ignored the many warnings in 2008 and 2009, and having pussyfooted and allowed “politricks” to dominate our thinking, we are now faced with a situation that requires expansionary measures. Were we now to hold strain and contract further there will be insufficient activity both in the private sector and in Government to reinflate the economy.
We must therefore take bold steps to promote as much local activity as possible. Even if this means drawing down on our foreign exchange, we need to do so. In the meantime going after international business and international capital attraction will be the key to boosting the foreign inflows.
Getting international business will not be easy; and so making Barbados attractive will be the challenge. One way of doing this will be to ignore the advice of Sir Courtney Blackman and free our foreign exchange policies.
What would be the main risks? That Barbadians would hasten to invest abroad in a safer jurisdiction? Today?
More than likely investors will welcome a freer and easier way of international business. Despite the turbulent time, there are investors with cash to burn. Build on our strengths. Stop the political instability. Stop taking decisions that make political “sense” but not economic sense.
Stop catering to the poverty-stricken (we are all in that boat now) and start looking after what is good for the country as a whole. What is going on now is a bloody disgrace to Barbadians, but fun for the “elected elite”.
Things that will help the economy will be to restart and facilitate construction activity in a big way. Have a different approach to the Clico debacle, so that the victims do not suffer but are able to contribute to the revival.
The percentage share of GDP is too large now to be ignored. Forget the Medium-Term Strategy and institute a Survival Strategy to deal with the present situation. Above all, the politicians need to take Barbadians into their confidence – let us know what is happening.
Why do we allow rumours to circulate about the health and the ability of the Prime Minister? There is as much speculation about the leadership of the Government as of the leadership of the Opposition.
I said in 2008 “if Government continues to spend, what will happen even though the borrowing may be in Barbadian dollars? The debt will become unsustainable and unserviceable, exacerbated by a reduced collection of taxes. Thus we will be forced to look at reducing social services and shelving capital works”.
That was then and the Government was spending on non-productive ventures. Now its choice of ventures must be more circumspect and should lead to putting money in people’s pocket to spend mainly locally.
•Harry Russell is a retired banker.Email [email protected]
