How did the International Monetary Fund (IMF) become such a friend of Barbados in recent times?
How is it that at nearly every turn, this Washington-based body’s advice on alarmingly specific areas is thrown like missiles at the Central Bank of Barbados and the Government, as if attempting to force the back of the current administration further onto the proverbial wall?
The warning about Government’s much lamented use of National Insurance Scheme (NIS) funds sounds plausible on the surface. But is local investment by our NIS so wrong at this economic juncture?
Should the NIS, which has made profitable local investments in projects like Hilton Barbados and Barbados Light & Power, and should actually do more of it, invest abroad where the economies of developed countries are in far more turmoil than Barbados’?
Pardon my intentional avoidance of the argument that Barbados’ crisis is a self-imposed fiscal one; but in a situation where there have been no layoffs in the public sector, where we have hanging over our heads the “swords” of CLICO and BAICO policyholders and investors, Al Barrack’s court-ordered $70 million plus, the millions urgently needed to clean up the oil seepage of the Mobil refinery before it gets into our water, the hundreds of millions in taxes and duties owed the Government as a result of bounced cheques, an exorbitant fuel import bill, what is the country’s option but to invest locally?
And since there is no other major investment opportunity at this time but the Four Seasons luxury resort, which is a last-ditch, laudable attempt to create jobs and possibly subsume those jobs being lost in the private sector, shouldn’t the Government make every effort to shore up this project?
In my humble opinion, the risk of a $60 million NIS input cannot be too great when the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), characterized by tremendous due diligence, is poised to invest over US$80 million (BDS$160 million), and the 14-year loan has a grace period, on repayment of principal, during the actual construction of the hotel.
The total cost of Four Seasons, by the way, was estimated at US$137 million (BDS$274 million), with the IDB providing a senior secured loan for over $100 million, complemented by co-financing of $60 million, while the NIS is to provide some $60 million, with the remainder coming from small investors.
Who would want such a project to fail? And if the Opposition returns to office in the next general election, Four Seasons will be ranked high priority and private sector entities will almost miraculously become “confident” and pump the required completion funds into it.
Let’s take the politics out of the situation and realize that while the IMF’s advice to limit use of the country’s social security money to finance borrowing must be taken seriously, the IMF cannot be expected to understand the need for local investment, especially by the NIS whose solid record and current surpluses are well known.
The IMF’s general approach, aptly described as “slash and burn” by a former NIS investment officer, cannot be genuinely applied to the Four Seasons scenario.
Additonally, why should Barbados accept wholesale, warmed over approaches to economic development – which have wrecked the economies of some member countries – and sacrifice ethical, people-centred strategies birthed by National Hero Errol Walton Barrow?
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Kudos to the Town & Country Planning Department, which I have berated in the past because of what I consider to be its laissez-faire practice related to residential and commercial construction that have aggravated flooding across Barbados.
This time, the department has moved quickly to stop repairs that have basically ruined the beauty and authenticity of the oldest building in Bridgetown: the 360-year-old Nicholls Building at the corner of James Street and Lucas Street.
The stop notice is also the result of the power of the media, including social media where, on Facebook, historian Dr Karl Watson was the first voice in the wilderness crying out aganst this philistine devastation of the 1650s building.
“It was one of the linchpins of our World Heritage application dossier,” Watson wrote. “Because it is a metaphor for Dutch/English commercial conflict and the subsequent emergence of the British-dominated North Atlantic system, it deserves iconic status.
“It stands as a tangible, monumental beacon, explaining why it was that the first of a series of Navigation Acts was passed by the English Parliament . . . directed largely against the relative free trade which Barbados was enjoying with Holland.”
Whether or not this conjures up colonial domination cannot be the sole consideration. The fact is that this building is part of Barbados’ history, and to fill in the curvilinear gable with cement and make it a triangle is a classic case of laziness and a lack of appreciation for beauty and art.
Government needs to enforce its policy for the protection of such iconic landmarks, many of which have been bulldozed over the years to create car parks and all kinds of nonsense.
Well done, Mark Cummins, George Browne and team at the Town & Country Planning Department.
