A rough 2012 with the challenges of 2011 following local businesses into the new year is Andy Armstrong, president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s (BCCI) prediction.
Moreover, Armstrong said that the private sector was not expecting any significant growth over the next 12 months.
Taking a look back at 2011 and giving an outlook for 2012, Armstrong told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY: “[This year] was a difficult one for most companies. Most companies are still struggling to be profitable. But we have been encouraging people throughout the year to stop waiting for the world economy to turn around because predictions are that it could be another two years before the world economy starts to really grow again.
“I guess companies would have been holding strain trying to control expenses and keeping their heads above water. But they can’t keep doing that forever.”
According to the BCCI president, “Companies need to start looking at ways in which they can become more profitable and stop waiting for a rise in tide.
“We need to do what we can do at this point on an individual basis.
“I think the perception from the wider business community is that [2012] is going to be just as tough as this year, so we are not expecting much overall growth in the economy.
“But you can’t just throw up your hands in despair – you have to know that it is going to be really tough to start to make the decisions and take the actions that you need to take to ensure the long-term survival of your business,” he explained.
Armstrong said he was optimistic that the green economy – alternate energy – was poised to “take off” in Barbados in 2012 “and help stimulate the economy”.
He said the Chamber of Commerce was ensuring that it played its part to make sure that the economy picked up through its various programmes, such as Bridgetown Alive and the recently held Duty-Free Day.
He noted that 2011 was not a good year for tourism in terms of visitors’ spend and did not see that sector doing well in 2012 either.
“It is clear that there are going to have to be some tough decisions made.
Each year it seems like more hotels are closing their doors.
“With the exception of the Courtyard by Marriot, we do not have any hotels opening up – which would lead one to think that it is not a profitable sector.
“So tourism definitely has some serious challenges. And players in the sector are well aware of that [because] they are trying to do what they can to address that,” he said.
