A REGIONAL ECONOMIST who monitors Barbados has poured cold water on Government’s forecasts for economic growth and fiscal improvement.
And Marla Dukharan, RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited’s group economist, is also urging Barbados to implement a domestic debt restructuring programme or risk passing more “pain” on to domestic lenders.
Dukharan gave her advice Thursday evening during Royal Fidelity’s annual investor forum at Hilton Barbados.
She questioned the Central Bank projection that the Barbados economy will grow by between two and 2.5 per cent “for the next two to three years”, and said she agreed with the International Monetary Fund that “growth is not going to reach two per cent in Barbados until 2020”.
But the economist pointed out that even if Barbados reached the target, the performance would be misleading considering that the size of the Barbados economy had shrunk by 5.4 per cent since 2008. (SC)
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