Key Points from the media briefing by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler.
*Minister of Chris Sinckler, flanked by Dr Louis Woodroft, acting director of finance and Avonda Carrington, acting deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance about to meet members of the media.
*Beginning with an opening statement – he started with an apology for postponement.
*Sinckler said there were successes but some goals to reduce the deficit had not been reached.
*He said stability had returned to the foreign exchange market Barbados was but certainly not out of the woods.
*In the opening statement Sinckler said the aim over the next few months is to contain supplementals to under $100 million for the rest of the financial year.
*He said unless government reduced its level of expenditure it could undermine the efforts to return to fiscal stability.
*Still in his opening statement before taking questions from the media, Sinckler said government had to push ahead to try to return to growth even though it is proving to be more difficult than anticipated.
*Return to growth in 2015 is not unrealistic as a number of tourism projects and events are a good sign.
*Mr. Sinckler says no date for budget yet but should be “within a month or so”.
*The Minister says there will be no more layoffs in order to fill the $174 million deficit this financial year.
*A significant part of the government’s fiscal adjustment has been achieved.
*Government put systems in place to stop the “balloon in supplementals” at the end of the year.
*Sinckler says the Ministry of Education has identified areas that it can find “savings” in the Ministry in order to fund the bursaries for students of the University of the West Indies.
*He said the bursaries are coming and a proposal from the Ministry of Education should be coming to the Ministry of Finance, but can’t say when the announcement will be made by the Ministry of Education.
*There will be no International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme for Barbados says Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler as it was not necessary.
*The Minister said the home grown programme will not be painless but the alternative “that some people clamouring for” will be far worse than many believe.
*Sinckler says he does not only want to hear the private sector talking about what government has not done but what the private sector is doing to help build the economy.
*The Minister of Finance revealed that the contract of Governor of the Central Bank Dr DeLisle Worrell has been renewed for another term. Dr Worrell’s contract was to come to an end in a few days.
*Minister of Finance said he had no plans to resign despite the sustained criticism he has received over the years since his appointment in 2010.
*The Press conference came to an end at 3:15 p.m.
