IF THIS WAS THE BUDGET to sway the electorate, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler may have made his job harder last night.
He told the country his proposals were about putting “country first” and even more sacrificing by Barbadians was the order of the day.
Forced to deliver successive Budgets laced with austerity proposals and generating only anaemic growth, the minister conceded that the island’s foreign exchange troubles had worsened and so any unforeseen shock could cripple the country.
Moreover, the economy had lost a staggering $1.4 billion in revenue from the international business sector in the last seven years, and the administration was hamstrung in the ways it could cut spending without firing thousands more public workers. (GE)
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