At the request of the Government of Barbados, an International Monetary
Fund (IMF) team led by Bert van Selm visited Bridgetown from September 3–6,
to discuss implementation of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT)
plan, supported by the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). A
concluding meeting was held with Prime Minister Mottley on September 6,
2019. To summarize the mission’s findings, Mr. van Selm made the following
statement:
“Barbados continues to make good progress in implementing its ambitious and
comprehensive economic reform program.
“All indicative targets for end-June under the EFF have been met. The
target for the government’s primary surplus was met with a wide margin,
with the government running a primary surplus of 2½ percent of (annual) GDP
in the first quarter of FY2019/20. This bodes well for achieving the
government’s primary surplus target of 6 percent of GDP for FY2019/20.
International reserves were also well over program targets at end-June.
“Good progress has been made in implementing end-June and July 2019
structural benchmarks under the EFF. The authorities have completed a
review of the tax system and the Governor General has proclaimed the
recently enacted Financial Management and Audit Act.
“Progress being made by the authorities in furthering good-faith
discussions with external creditors is welcome. Continuing open dialogue
and sharing of information will remain important in concluding an orderly
debt restructuring process.
“The team is looking forward to return to Barbados in November to conduct
the discussions for the Article IV and second review under the EFF and
would like to thank the authorities and the technical team for their
openness and candid discussions.”
