MINISTER OF FINANCE Chris Sinckler says he refuses to be distracted from his work by the “childish antics” of Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, who has filed a no-confidence motion and a public petition against him.
The minister, who has held the finance portfolio since 2010 shortly before the death of Prime Minister David Thompson, said yesterday: “I am busy doing the Government’s work, the work of the people of Barbados, to ensure we stabilize the Barbados economy and get it back on a path of growth.
“Therefore the childish antics of the restless Leader of the Opposition and her insatiable appetite for power are not going to sidetrack me or any member of the Government from the work and the task at hand.”
He also told the DAILY NATION that, in his view, Mottley had “demonstrated time and again a level of childishness that is unmatched by any politician in Barbados. Those antics have now elevated themselves to this exercise. We’re now only left to see her strip naked and run down Broad Street in her attempt to get attention”.
Sinckler, just back from the International Monetary Fund-World Bank conference in Washington, DC, also expressed amazement at the furore here over the recent forecast of negative growth of -0.8 and -1.1 per cent for Barbados in the next two years.
“Since when has the IMF been rating people? The IMF makes forecasts on many things and many times they get it wrong. Last year they predicted the world economy would grow by such and such amount and they had to revise it by midyear.
“So the operative word is forecast. You can’t compare country A with country B. So if you have country A having one per cent growth and Barbados gets one per cent negative growth, does it mean country A is better than Barbados? Is that the level to which we have stooped?” he asked. (RJ)
