This year will go down as one of the most challenging for the Barbadian people particularly as it relates to the security of employment in the public service and the economy generally.
In many respects it has not been an easy year and as we approach 2014 we expect that like most of us, the Government will consider turning over a new leaf. It seems clear now that the economic policies being pursued by the Government since 2008 have not worked as it had hoped. Indeed to be quite frank the Government itself has admitted this.
Whatever else may be said about the Minister of Finance he has been, on occasion, disarmingly frank. His admission earlier this year in the Budget speech that a $400 million flight of capital almost certainly represented a lack of confidence in the economy, had the ring of truth about it, even if some regarded the statement as something of an own goal.
An even earlier admission that Government was borrowing to pay the monthly salaries of some workers may also have given the Opposition fodder on which to chew; but if it is true and it certainly was; then we award ten points to the Minister in showing his hand. It is after all the people’s business, and they have a right to know.
In this context of the right to know, the people would also be interested to discover whether the Stuart administration is prepared to listen to its constructive critics and to modify its policies now that they have been shown to be ill-suited to our present economic condition. Some harsh realities may have to be faced.
Some commentators at home and abroad have long been urging the Government to adjust its policies. Yet a persistence with the strategy of increasing current expenditure in the face of declining revenues aggravated by Government’s austerity policies have left the country with little or no growth and an unsustainable deficit.
In seeking to turn over a new leaf which is what we feel the Government must do; it is clear that they must consider and may take on board the views of a broader canvas of opinion than they have hitherto taken. It may be necessary to do this as part of the process of restoring confidence in its policies as it seeks to stimulate the economy and generate growth.
There are some political risks in following this path. If the Opposition may seize the political mileage, that is par for the course.
But the alternatives facing the country are unpalatable. Dwindling foreign reserves without any compensatory growth in the foreign exchange earning sectors will eventually lead to a serious challenge to the fixed exchange rate.Â
For close to six years now the consistent message was that the policies pursued were wrong, but the messengers were ignored as prophets of gloom and doom.
But, this country has reached the critical stage where reasoned debate must take place on key policy issues of its public finances. It is a debate which was hinted at in the last election campaign; but it fell victim to the raw politics of the moment.
The victory of the political argument may have been a victory for propaganda, but the moment of truth, now on us, requires that the economy must be rescued from the vagaries of politics.
