Don’t delay

THE VALUE OF BARBADOS’ currency could be taking a plunge soon unless Government moves speedily to slash the deficit between its revenue and expenditure.
Charlie Skeete, a retired senior economist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, has issued this warning.
With the fiscal deficit at 9.4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) between April and June this year, Barbados would be unable to defend its current exchange rate unless corrective action was taken now, he said.
The former Barbados Ambassador in Washington told the DAILY NATION: “That is an untenable fiscal deficit for a small open economy. It is not sustainable. Something has to be done, seriously.