BARBADOS’ INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS sector needs to be shored up in a hurry, if Government is to ensure a bounce-back of the economy, says former Prime Minister, Owen Arthur.
 Arthur, who led the country from 1994 to 2008, said earlier today it can’t be business as usual for a sector that saw revenue of $356 million during its glory days in 2007, now dipping to under $100 million less than ten years later.
The former Prime Minister made the comments this morning before entering the House of Assembly for the first debate after the annual summer recess.
According to Arthur, a lot of what needs to be said is actually contained in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) most recent report on Barbados, especially its take on the problems affecting the country’s international business sector.
“This sector has been the fastest growing new sector, since Independence that has added the greatest to Barbadian prosperity. “But this sector has been going through a lot of problems. The revenue has the sector has dropped from $356 million in 2007, to $95 million,” Arthur noted.
The long-time MP said Barbados is facing an economic scenario not seen before.Â
“You have no growth in the sector and now a steep decline, the loss of foreign exchange, and the loss of $200 million in revenue. That is the big triple whammy that has hit Barbados.”
“The most important thing that has to be done is to change the circumstances of the international business sector, by changing the conditions under which business is done. An investment facilitation has to be carried out,” Arthur concluded. (BA)
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