A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in Barbados this week to meet with government to undertake the Fund’s regular Article IV consultations and to discuss a new relationship with Barbados, following its exit from an official IMF programme last year.
The team, led by Mission Chief, Michael Perks, will meet with Prime Minister Mia Mottley; Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn; Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning Marsha Caddle, as well as other officials from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment and the Central Bank of Barbados.
Minister Caddle was part of the team that met on Monday morning in a kick-off mission to discuss expectations for ongoing collaboration with the Fund.
In June 2025, Barbados exited its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangements with the International Monetary Fund, noting that “implementation of the home-grown Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan has remained strong and the broad objectives of the EFF and RSF arrangements have been achieved”.
The Fund further noted then that “macroeconomic stability has been reinforced, reforms have been implemented to boost fiscal sustainability, enhance growth and build resilience, and Barbados’ economy has continued to perform well. Growth has been robust, inflation has moderated, the fiscal and external positions have improved, and the public debt-to-GDP ratio has continued to decline”.
Following Monday’s meeting, Caddle explained that in Barbados’ journey since 2018, from stabilisation to growth to transformation, the management of risk in a small economy “like ours” has to be a part of the country’s economic management programme.
“That means that identifying future circumstances in which we might need access to liquidity – to cash – quickly, will always be important. We have a few tools for that, like the Contingent Credit Facility with the Inter-American Development Bank, our natural disaster clauses and other similar instruments. But climate and environmental disasters are not the only shocks we can experience. We saw that with COVID, and we see that with the multiple and ongoing conflicts that impact our access to commodities. So, our arrangements with international financial institutions matter,” she stated.
Minister Caddle further noted: “From a growth and productivity perspective, work remains. Continuing to invest in infrastructure at a scale that matches the growth of our economy and the ambitions of our people, right-sizing state-owned enterprises to be on a sustainable path, filling the skills gaps in the public and private sectors, and making sustainable our investments in health, education and water are some of the BERT 3.0 targets driving the Ministry of Economic Affairs and its team. While we continue with this transformation, we have to ensure that no future crisis will jeopardise our gains.”
During the visit, the IMF team will also meet with other stakeholders in the public, private and third sectors. (BGIS)
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