## IMF Staff Concludes Visit to Barbados

_IMF News, February 7, 2020_

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: February 7, 2020

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### Mission scope and context
- At the request of the Government of Barbados, an IMF team led by Bert van Selm visited Bridgetown from February 4-7 to discuss implementation of Barbados’ Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan, supported by the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
- The mission will not result in a Board meeting.
- The views in the statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board.

### Key findings: macroeconomic and fiscal outcomes
- Barbados continues to make good progress in implementing its economic reform program.
- International reserves reached US$740 million at the end of 2019, from a low of US$220 million in May 2018.
- The completion of the external debt restructuring in December 2019 has reduced economic uncertainty, and the agreed terms with creditors will help to keep public debt on a clear downward trajectory.
- On December 11, 2019, Standard and Poor’s upgraded Barbados’ foreign currency sovereign credit rating from Selective Default to B-.

### Program performance against EFF targets
- All indicative targets for end-December under the EFF have been met.
- The program target for Net International Reserves was met by a wide margin.
- The target for the Central Bank of Barbados’ Net Domestic Assets was met by a wide margin.
- The primary surplus for the first three quarters of FY2019/20 amounted to almost 5 percent of (annual) GDP.
- Barbados is on track to reach the 6 percent primary surplus target for FY2019/20.

### Structural benchmarks and policy implementation
- Good progress continues to be made towards implementing the structural benchmarks under the EFF.
- A revised Central Bank of Barbados (CBB) law is expected to be ready to be sent to Parliament shortly.
- Preparation of the budget for FY2020/21 targeting a primary surplus of 6 percent of GDP is well underway.

### Next steps and mission follow-up
- The IMF team is looking forward to return to Barbados in May to conduct the discussions for the third review under the EFF.
- The team expressed thanks to the authorities and the technical team for their openness and candid discussions.

### Media contact
- IMF Communications Department, Media Relations
- Press Officer: Randa Elnagar
- Phone: +1 202 623-7100
- Email: MEDIA@IMF.org
- @IMFSpokesperson

*International Monetary Fund.*

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## References

- [Barbados and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/BRB/index.htm)
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- [PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)
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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2020/02/07/pr2038-barbados-imf-staff-concludes-visit_