The true level of hardship facing Barbadians may not be easily apparent in Barbados’ economic statistics.
That’s the belief of outgoing president of the Caribbean Development (CDB) Bank, Dr Compton Bourne, who said statistics might be concealing just how much people were suffering as a result of the economic recession.
The economist, who has headed the Barbados-based multilateral institution for the past ten years and is to be replaced by?Jamaican Warren?Smith in April, said: “We know the statistics about the level of unemployment. We know Government has been engaged in a number of things to minimise the extent to which people lose jobs.
“But when I encounter people and they say things are hard . . . there is probably a lot more pain than the official statistics show.”
In a wide-ranging interview with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY, Bourne said: “I think that we don’t know enough about the extent of the crisis on the ordinary man in the street in Barbados.”
According to the CDB?president, the island’s biggest challenges remained high debt and the fiscal deficit.
“Government will have to continue the efforts to bring about a turnaround in the economy and maintain – on a selective basis – programmes that minimise the burden on the most disadvantaged members of the society.
“The major challenge for Barbados is the public debt. What I saw in the [November 2010] Budget was an attempt to deal with it, and [the debt] has to be dealt with if the country is not to lose its reputation for management of the economy.”
The tourism industry continued to be “a real source of weakness at this point”, said Bourne, as he lamented the economic difficulties facing the island’s main source market – Britain.
“Resources might well be used for developing new markets . . . . Tourism has to be an important industry for Barbados and the challenge for the sector is how to improve the product and expand the range of offerings so that the industry remains competitive.”
