WHEN I WAS A BOY, just a couple of years ago, besides fighting, I used to like to fly kites. In fact, I made kites and sold them for pocket money. Therefore, I understand most things about flying kites.
If you let out the kite until all of the twine is in the line, you would be down to the baller. That can be a precarious position, depending on the behaviour of the kite. If the kite has mountain loops, then “she” would stay steady in the air singing with its bull in the roundhead.
She would even go up and block the sun overhead. But woe betides if the kite has pulling loops. She would start dancing and pitching and you would be seeing hell to get her to behave. In fact, you would have no room to manoeuvre if you are down to the baller.
It seems to me that our kite is down to the baller, metaphorically speaking. When Barbados has to repay foreign debt, most times it is done with US dollars by the Central Bank. When a Barbadian wants to import stuff or pay for a foreign component, he goes to a commercial bank and the bank facilitates the transaction. Both the Central Bank and the commercial bank provide the foreign exchange.
Now central banks settle debts with one another on behalf of their country, just as commercial banks settle debts with one another. The phenomenon of our Central Bank requiring the Trinidad-owned commercial banks in Barbados to exchange US dollar debts for Barbados dollars is unusual and may indicate that the Central Bank cannot do better.
The kite is pitching and doing dixie. Kite flyers know that you cannot haul in the kite when it is in this condition, because you would be putting pressure on the kite and it would pitch even more.
If you could borrow some twine from a friend, then add it to your twine; this might provide a temporary measure of relief, but only for a while since the kite would be further out and more difficult to haul in.
Trinidad is short of US dollars since the price of oil dropped below $40 per barrel. Prime Minister Rowley is calling for strict measures. Its Central Bank has to settle with Barbados and most likely, the balance is in favour of Trinidad.
One must remember that dividends earned by the Trinidadian banks in Barbados have to be remitted to their central bank (owner) preferably in US dollars. Our Central Bank is down to the baller. Since this is the case, it has turned to the Trinidad banks to send whatever US dollars they earn to Trinidad. Perhaps it has no option.
Sometimes another kite flyer may be playing laggings. What is most dangerous is that he may have a razor blade on the end of his switching tail so that if he comes across and catches you, “cat gnam yuh suppa”. There are many kite flyers around that may not be flying only for pleasure. They can be called vultures.
The precarious position in which the Barbados kite finds itself is cause for concern. The other banks, including our correspondent banks that keep a working sum of Barbados dollars, may realise that our Central Bank is down to the baller and may repatriate their Barbados dollars for US dollars, thus putting more strain on our Central Bank.
How to haul in the kite
One remedy that I used to use when I was a boy was to sling the kite. It was a crude remedy, but effective. If she was not too high in the sky, I would get a fellow to tie a fairly heavy stone on a long piece of twine; when the kite makes a big pitch, he would fling the stone and trap the twine of the kite and hail “she” down.
It would appear that after months of silence, our Prime Minister is speaking out and publicly “getting involved”. This may be a re-enactment of 2013 when the perception was that the ship was sinking. However, there is no denying now that we are down to the baller and that placebo words cannot haul in the kite.
The apparent remittance of US dollars to Trinidad and the repatriation of Barbados dollars is a stark reminder of the experience of the problems that Jamaica encountered back in the 1970s when confronted with a mass repatriation of local currency to the Central Bank of Jamaica.
Why not get a fellow to sling the kite with the proviso that you will change the loops and add some more tail? I used to make kites using clammy cherry paste or baked flour with lime. I know how to make and fly kites. It seems that you are busy engaging some private sector people at “reasonable” costs.
Have you ever considered privatising the Ministry of Finance?
• Harry Russell is a banker. Email: quijote70@gmail.com