IF MINISTER OF FINANCE Chris Sinckler has to beg, he is prepared to do so.
And yesterday he made an appeal to the private sector to do what it could to retain more of the vital foreign exchange that was not making it into the Central Bank to help keep the economy going, and preserving the gains the island had made over the years. 
Speaking during debate on the 2017/2018 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, Sinckler explained that the bulk of the foreign exchange generated by sectors such as tourism never made it to the Central Bank’s foreign reserves holding.
Calling on the private sector to help the country so that it did not have to borrow so much, he told the House of Assembly: “Successive governments have given concessions and I believe that we should continue to do so because these things are important to business growth.
“The question is, how much of a return are we getting from this? I don’t believe it is enough. I believe the bulk of the foreign exchange we have earned is not making it into the system and it needs to make it into the system.
“If there are vast amounts that are being held outside of Barbados, I don’t want you to bring in all but bring a little bit more. Help the country out. Don’t only get up and talk about how much reserves are in the Central Bank; help out the country a little bit. Give a little more; that is not an unreasonable call.”
However, the minister made it clear that the country did not want dirty money from sources such as money laundering.
“There is some foreign exchange that we don’t want . . . . What we want is good, clean foreign exchange.”(GE)
