The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) has advised the Freundel Stuart administration to start looking at the disposal of state agencies which the Government need not operate.
In the process, however, the accountants said due consideration should be given to the social impact and importance to national development of the targeted agencies.
These were among the suggestions from ICAB’s president David Simpson who urged the administration to look beyond the recent investment downgrade and focus on strengthening the economy.
Two days after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) slashed Barbados foreign credit rating from BBB-/A-3 investment grade to BB+/B junk bond status, the ICAB president said in the context of the economic challenges confronting the country and the world over the past three years, and the concerns that have been repeatedly expressed by the ratings agencies and the International Monetary Fund, the recent downgrade should not have been a surprise.
