## Barbados: Staff Report for the 2000 Article IV Consultation

_IMF Staff Country Reports, December 4, 2000_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Barbados: Staff Report for the 2000 Article IV Consultation](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2016/12/30/barbados-staff-report-for-the-2000-article-iv-consultation-3843)

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## Bibliographic details
- Published: December 4, 2000
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451805970.002

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### Executive summary
- Barbados has a stable political system and long-standing public consensus on key economic policies.
- The policy framework includes a fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar supported by prudent fiscal and wage policies.
- The authorities' medium-term strategy aims at stabilizing and restructuring the economy to address ongoing trade liberalization.

### Labor market and unemployment
- Unemployment rate reached 9.8 percent at the end of 1999.
- This represented a decline of 2 percentage points compared with a year earlier.
- Job creation was driven mainly by the private sector, particularly construction.

### Macroeconomic and policy framework
- Exchange rate regime: fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar.
- Fiscal and wage policies: described as prudent and supportive of the exchange rate regime.
- Policy consensus: long-standing public consensus on key economic policies noted as a stabilizing factor.

### Strategic priorities and challenges
- Medium-term strategy: stabilizing and restructuring the economy.
- Primary challenge motivating strategy: ongoing trade liberalization.

### Key statistics (as reported)
- Unemployment rate: 9.8 percent (end-1999).
- Change in unemployment: 2 percentage points lower than a year before.

*Barbados: Staff Report for the 2000 Article IV Consultation. December 4, 2000. International Monetary Fund.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/cr/issues/2016/12/30/barbados-staff-report-for-the-2000-article-iv-consultation-3843_