President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Dr Ronnie Yearwood is accusing Government of not being upfront with Barbadians regarding the reason for taking the country into a second successive arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Yearwood said Government was “contradicting” itself, claiming on one hand that the economy was in good health and poised for growth, yet on the other hand, borrowing from the fund to shore up the economy.
He also argued that the ruling administration was carrying a heavier than normal foreign debt burden, while at the same time leading an economy that was not generating enough foreign exchange to service said debt.
“What I found interesting about the whole discussion that the Prime Minister was trying to put forward, is the contention that the economy is doing so well. If the economy is doing as well as the Prime Minister claims, then why are we going into another IMF programme? This is one of the first questions that everyone should be asking themselves.
“On one hand you have the Prime Minister claiming that the economy is doing so well, and we are expecting ten per cent growth etc, then on the other hand you are telling us that we need to go into another IMF programme to stabilise the economy. You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” Yearwood said. (CLM)
