Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne wants Government to give the public a full disclosure regarding its borrowings.
Speaking yesterday in the House of Assembly during debate on the Economic Diversification And Growth Fund Bill, 2025, he suggested that some people were benefiting from the negotiation of these loans.
Responding to Ryan Straughn, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, who in introducing the bill stated that the foreign reserves had remained stable, Thorne declared: “Every Barbadian knows that this country has not earned its foreign exchange. This country earned qualification for loans. What appears to be healthy foreign exchange was not generated within this economy. That foreign exchange was generated by negotiations with lending agencies and there’s nothing wrong with borrowing money in principle, but we all know that borrowed money has not found reinvestment within the local economy and that’s why you borrow money.
“When a Government borrows money merely to present a facade to the rest of the world and that is to say, ‘Look how rich we are in foreign exchange’, and that foreign exchange springs from loans, you really are not achieving anything that is worthy of praise,” he added.
He called on Government to “give account for the fees, the commissions, paid to individuals, whether local or foreign, because the obligation to repay includes those sums that have been paid to individuals. It ought not to be a secret”.
The Opposition Leader also condemned Government for failing to reduce the value added tax (VAT) from 17.5 per cent, stating the failure to control cost of living was ruining a lot of lives in Barbados. (MB)
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