An entrepremeur belives last Tuesday’s Budget was understandably defensive, given the recent downgrade of Barbados’ domestic currency rating by Moody’s Investment Services.
Jeremy Stephen, chairman of holding company Damoola Inc., said he “would not think that you would want a government to go any differently”.
He was speaking last Wednesday during a post-Budget breakfast discussion hosted by the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers at Hilton Barbados.
Stephen noted that during a recession Governments needed to present “key programmes outlining where the country is going in the medium term, especially” and therefore he was “grossly disappointed” by the Budget.
However, he noted that Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler’s submission was not one that would stop the economy from growing.
“I understand where [Government’s] pressures are,” he said, while stressing that the private sector would have to become more innovative.
“We know that we suffer from external shocks that we cannot control but what we do have within Barbados is a measure of innovation that puts us probably leaps and bounds above our compatriots within the Caribbean,” Stephen said.
He said innovation was especially necessary in the manufacturing sector which was “looking for legislation that could take years to come through that would allow us to export to the European Union”.
“Why not invest somewhere or form a joint venture with some manufacturing company overseas,” he queried.
Stephen added that Barbadians should consider investing in countries like Guyana.
“Yes, the wages are low but let’s look at what returns are. The investment capacity is quite good and it is improving,” he noted.
