Barbados plunges into a recession

Radio Jamaica News

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

The Barbados economy is in a severe recession, the International Monetary Fund has said in a new report. 

Foreign direct investment has dried up, tourism and international business have declined sharply, the fiscal deficit is climbing - in fact almost all the indicators are negative.

However, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Dr. Frank Alleyne says there was no need for alarm. 
"Let me say up front, I concur with the findings as well as the policy recommendations. They call for belt-tightening, better use of the resources. When tourism takes a hit like it did last year, it has not recovered this year in spite of government's best efforts,"

"What government has to do in the short term is prevent the economy from going into a freefall and stabilize the thing. I think government has been trying to do this, with some success. They have set up financial assistance for the tourism industry to tide them over for the period," he said.