Dollars And Cents Supported By Commonsense

Chris Sinckler, Minister of Finance

For as long as the global economic situation remains depressed, small open economies like Barbados will continue to struggle  implementing economic and social policies. Contrary to what Clyde Mascoll, Avinash Persaud, Michael Howard et al have to say, there is no rule book which adequately prepares governments in the region who are unfortunate to be elected at this time.

The foregoing is not meant to disrespect academia, after all, partly responsible for the ‘success’ of Barbados has been the commitment to educating its people as evidenced by large budget allocations even at the worse of economic times. It is a social policy supported by successive governments for greater than four decades which separates Barbados from the rest. Exacerbating the economic problems we are facing in Barbados is the extent to which those in academia have allowed a political lens to cloud the sobering and dispassionate analysis which is required to facilitate a constructive debate on the issues.

BU most times has distanced itself from lacing our postings with jargon when distilling our points of view; even at the risk of being accused of being simplistic. In the ongoing debate about whether the government has been making the correct decisions, the average Barbadian must now be giddy at the myriad of perspectives being offered. The understandable reality that Barbadians have been living a very expansive lifestyle for the last 15 years on the back of a global economic boom makes the situation we find ourselves unpalatable for most Bajans. When we insert adversarial politics to the mix, rhyme and reason goes through the window.