UP UNTIL THE VERY late stages of the administration of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur that ended at the start of 2008, there was a raging debate that centred on the oversimplified slogan that suggested the country was being sold out to rich foreigners – and at the expense of ordinary Bajans.
It was, to a large extent, an emotional argument that was designed to prey on the sentimentality of ordinary Barbadians for the benefit of people whose primary interests were political. An example of this came from the reaction when the then Prime Minister spoke of the possible relocation of the Ministry of Agriculture from Graeme Hall, Christ Church, in the heart of the tourism belt, to allow the land to fetch its highest possible economic value.
It would appear that after nearly two straight decades of robust investment in Barbados by non-national individuals and companies, Barbadians had grown weary, and thus less than welcoming of each new advance. The importance of such investment to the maintenance of a robust small economy like Barbados’ was not being recognised, perhaps explained by the old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt”.
Then for reasons not necessarily linked to our own apparent dwindling interest and creativity, the bottom fell out of the proverbial barrel and foreign direct investment (FDI) plummeted.
A recent report from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) showed that between 2014 and last year, FDI to Barbados fell by almost half a billion dollars, down from $972 million at the end of 2013. Interestingly, it explained that a significant portion of the FDI that did occur had resulted from acquisition or expansion post buyouts involving Cable & Wireless, Digicel and Emera.
The significant investments in hotel and other tourism-related projects of the not so distant past did not factor into this ECLAC analysis. Observant Barbadians, however, did not need ECLAC’s report to tell them that much of the construction and commercial activity associated with this kind of investment had been absent for a number of years.
The good news from ECLAC, however, was that Barbados “is experiencing an investment boom in the tourism sector”. In recent years Sandals Resort has spent more than $100 million to acquire and literally remake its Christ Church property, and just weeks ago announced it was about to spend even more to more than double the size of the complex.
In similar vein, this week will see the official start of construction of a new resort on the grounds of the historic Sam Lord’s Castle in St Philip, and hopefully, not long afterwards, the ground-breaking for a new Hyatt Hotel on Bay Street on the outskirts of The City will take place.
Whether or not we like the concept of foreign ownership on our little rock, our economic challenges of the last decade or so should leave us in no doubt that more than ever before our economy will not grow and will not sustain the development we seek or expect if we are blindly insular in our thinking. Too many years of economic stagnation, characterised by stalled investment projects, should have served as a wake-up call to ordinary citizens as well as those who seek to lead, especially at the political level.
Maybe this time around, while not dismissing all prudence, we will be less inclined to look on foreign ownership as some evil dragon that must be fought and slain. And while the investment in big hotel projects like Sandals, Beaches, Hilton, Wyndham and Hyatt will continue to be critical to our economy, it can’t be a secret that the villa market has grown in significance and may in fact be rivalling traditional accommodation. It was these lavish individual properties, such as those found along the West Coast and in places such as Apes Hill Polo Club and Royal Westmoreland, that had become the primary emotional whipping boy for people with less than fair motives, and as the economy picks up and many of these on-hold projects commence or recommence, perhaps now we will be more pragmatic in our debate on the benefits or evils of this area of business.
What we absolutely cannot afford to do is to be influenced by individuals who would have us believe we can exist in this world by cutting ourselves off from other people’s money. Doing it all on our own would be ideal, but we just simply do not have the wherewithal for such an approach.
