BARBADOS’ $9 BILLION in debt is an albatross around the country’s neck, stifling chances of significant economic growth.
And in the circumstances an adjustment to the island’s exchange rate or some major debt restructuring were suggested as the key options from one of the world’s leading economists, David McWilliams, and supported by the Royal Bank of Canada’s group economist, Marla Dukharan, during the bank’s 2016 Economic Outlook Seminar at Hilton Barbados.
McWilliams told a roomful of business leaders that an adjustment to the currency peg, now at 2:1 against the United States dollar, should be considered. Failing that, the leading economic thinker, writer and lecturer said, Barbados might have to bite the bullet and do a deal with people holding Government debt for a possible haircut.
The country’s debt to GDP ratio has been put at 130 per cent and includes money owed to the National Insurance Scheme.
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