LAST?THURSDAY’s public/private?sector consultation has been something of an eye-opener on the state of the economy to many Barbadians at home and abroad; and the declaration by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart that sacrifices will have to be made by all in the face of serious problems of debt and deficit is not to be taken lightly.
The message is clear, and it is that the Government is trying to build some kind of consensus as a prelude to the implementation of the sacrifices that will be necessary to get the economy moving again in the medium term; and to pull the country back from the precipice in the short term and, indeed, in the immediate future.
The language of the Prime Minister and the Governor of the Central Bank was equally direct. The Prime Minister told us quite bluntly that Government has to make decisions and we cannot allow time to elapse to such an extent that we are forced into making decisions which we would not otherwise be inclined to make.
The adjustment which has to be made is something of the order of $400 million to the deficit, while we are also told that a loss of foreign exchange of something in the order of $450 million was suffered during the past six months.
These statistics do not provide comfortable reading for any sensible Barbadian. While there may be instances of the blame game being played out for political reasons by the two leading political parties, the question remains: what is the collection of policies which, taken now, will best rebalance the Barbadian economy?
Since economics is not a perfect science, if it is a science at all, we may have to await the details of the policies and the analysis of the Opposition and the academics on the Hill before passing any judgment on the quality and nature of the proposals.
There is, however, a disturbing circumstance which we cannot escape. This is now the second time in 20 years that the Government finds itself having to appeal to the citizenry to support harsh measures in the wider national interest. It is also the second occasion on which this development has arisen within six months or less of the result of a general election, in which assertions about the state of the economy were made which suggested a more stable and enhanced picture than has now emerged.
As on the earlier occasion, the dreaded prospect of a devaluation has reared its ugly head.
Yet, whatever may be the cause of the economy’s maladjustment, the duty of the Government is to lead and the obligation of the people is to listen to their leaders and make their own deliberate effort to help save the economy at this time.
But when the dust has settled, some independent assessment must be made of the causes and circumstances which led to these two crises so that if avoidable errors played a part, we become the wiser and may avoid those errors in the future.