I MAY BE WRONG, and I hope that I am, but there seems to be an air of uncertainty pervading Barbados. I sense this wherever I go and to whomever I speak.
Whether businesspeople, housewives, sale clerks, labourers, pensioners or whoever, most seem doubtful about this country’s immediate fortunes.
I have the distinct impression that this uneasiness about the future is due to the lack of clarity on the economy; that is, is it getting better or is it worsening?
The information from the Government and the Central Bank may suggest that though things are not the best, the situation has stabilized and growth, however miniscule, is imminent.
However, the continuous verbal battles between the Opposition spokesmen on finance and Government over the whether the bank’s statistics are complete have served to create doubt about any recovery.
And this disbelief is magnified within communities as people communicate with each other about who was laid off, who is now working three days a week instead of five, or had their hours cut to 30 a week, and who can’t get a job despite their qualifications.
The fact of the matter is that in spite of whatever is said nationally by Government and the Opposition, the impotence of our economy and its ineffectiveness to satisfy the needs of average Bajans at this time is their daily reality.
The official statistics only confirm what they are experiencing, and in some ways mirror what they see on television or read is happening in the economies of our major trading partners.
So people know things are tough and will most likely get worse before they get better. The Government knows this too, and that is why they extended unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 40 weeks last August.
“This facility remains in place in the first instance until the year 2011,” said then Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Freundel Stuart, in making that announcement during the ruling Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) 55th Annual Conference.
He stated that the Cabinet had given its approval for the additional 14 weeks, which would be paid at an adjusted rate, to assist out-of-work Barbadians to survive while seeking employment.
Since Government realized such a measure would be necessary, it is clear that given the prevailing global economic crisis they anticipated at some point unemployment here would rise.
That being the case, why then was the unemployment statistic showing a surge to 12.1 per cent at the end of June, from ten per cent at March 31 removed from the website of the Central Bank the same day it was posted?
It is pure folly that the Central Bank has to date refused to officially clarify why this was done, and their silence – now more like indifference to public opinion – has served only to undermine their credibility in the minds of the public. This all contributes to the air of uncertainty of which I speak.
I strongly believe it is incumbent on the Central Bank, personified by Governor Dr Delisle Worrell, to clear the air on this matter. He needs to say if the statistic was wrong and how that error could have happened. This matter has festered for too long and his silence has allowed an unwelcome shadow of doubt to be cast over that institution.
The Central Bank may have had a justifiable reason for taking down the statistics with the swiftness they did, but as Worrell has not spoken to the issue, it has been magnified and it now seems as if something is amiss.
This is unacceptable!
The public needs at least one institution in this country whose voice on matters relating to the economy is not perceived in any way to be served by a partisan political agenda – that is how the Central Bank must be seen in our national affairs.
There must have been a sound reason for removing those high unemployment statistics from the bank’s website. The Governor should say what it is when he reports on the economy’s performance for the first nine months of this year next Wednesday, October 12.
In these turbulent times, Barbadians need hope, not uncertainty and unnecessary controversy. They need to know the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is really sunlight and not an oncoming train. That is where the Central Bank must come in.