THE NEW CHAIRMAN of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) has one message for the social partners: let’s get down to business about a recovery plan for the Barbados economy.
John Williams, who has taken over leadership of the organization from Ben Arrindell, says he is ready to hit the ground running.
Williams said word has to get out to the business community, consumers, investors and the financial sector that the country is prepared to do what is necessary to get out of the economic rut it was in.
“The thing that needs immediate action is not just communicating a plan but starting and . . . implementation of a plan. There is no silver bullet as far as I can see. So it is not just about cutting a tax or increasing a duty or waiving this or starting that. What we are taking about is from a perspective of confidence,”?Williams told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
The BPSA chairman, who is chief executive officer of conglomerate Cave Shepherd & Co., said the business and international community needed “to believe that we in Barbados cannot just talk a good game but can play a good game”.
He added: “They are not going to expect that we will solve our problems overnight and make some important changes in the structure of the economy overnight.
“However, they want to see a plan; how we intend to go about it, and be able to follow as we go through the steps of that plan. That will be the one thing that has to happen and demonstrate that we will do what we say we will do.”
The senior executive said it was not unreasonable to expect Barbadians to turn to social partnership for a solution to the island economy caught up in three years of deep global recession.
“Although not every meeting or discussion is necessarily made public, I believe there is more that the social partnership can do to explain and communicate to the public and all our interest groups what is the plan for the way forward.
“The social partnership was born out of difficult circumstances, albeit 20 years ago, and therefore it is an ideal vehicle for putting those problems that we face on the table, coming up with the path that we are going to follow to deal with those problems,”?he noted.
