Barbados is still paying for the flawed economic policies of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), says Democratic Labour Party (DLP) St George North candidate Jepter Ince.
He said after managing the island’s foreign reserves the wrong way, the BLP was now seeking to repeat such actions with its plans for taxation and the wider economy.
Ince made his assertions on Monday night during a DLP spot meeting at Thorpes Cottage, St George.
He said while the BLP was “running around this country saying that our foreign reserves…are on a precipice”, it started the problem in 1999 by borrowing about $3 billion “to prop up the foreign reserves”.
“So if you take out the $3 billion from the amount that we said was foreign reserves, you would know that our foreign reserves were never at 12 weeks [of import cover],” he said.
Ince said instead of borrowing in good times, the then government should have focused on earning more foreign reserves through industries like tourism and international business.
The second-time general election candidate also knocked the BLP’s plan to abolish the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL).
“NSRL was to keep public servants employed, [it] was to keep Barbados going until the country continued on its growth path and that is where we are heading now, we are heading on a growth path and that has offended the [BLP],” he said.
After losing to the BLP’s Gline Clarke by more than 1 000 votes in the 2013 general election, Ince said he was ready to win the St George North seat, especially since Clarke “won the seat in 1994 and did all of his work in 1994 in that first term”.
“St George North is not owned by Gline Clarke or the Barbados Labour Party, we have won this constituency before and we are going to win it again,” Ince added. (SC)
