Barbados facing economic recession

BRIDGETOWN — The Barbados economy is in a state of recession, having contracted for three consecutive quarters. But the Barbados Central Bank’s Governor, Marion Williams, is avoiding using the ‘R’ (recession) word.

In briefing the media on the performance of the economy, the closest she came to the ‘R’ word was to disclose that the economy had contracted by 2.8 per cent last year and expectations were not positive for growth or employment for this year.

According to the Central Bank’s own definition, three consecutive quarters of successive negative growth points to economic recession.

Writing in the Barbados Economic Society newsletter, Dr Roland Craigwell, himself an employee of the Central Bank, said that “while the conventional benchmark used internationally is two consecutive quarters of declining Gross Domestic Product, the Central Bank of Barbados uses three…”

The unemployment rate rose by one per cent last year to 10.3 per cent. And, according to the Central Bank’s Governor, activity in all the traded sectors — tourism, manufacturing and agriculture — fell by approximately 6.8 per cent with all sub-sectors recording”significant decreases”.

She said that much of the poor performance of the Barbadian economy has been linked to the existing global environment and that this could further impact on the local economy in 2002.

Questions over govt’s take-over of two banks

KINGSTOWN — The decision by the St Vincent and Grenadines Government to take control of two off-shore banks whose owner has fled the country and is wanted by the United States authorities, is being questioned by the opposition New Democratic Party.

Former Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Arnhim Eustace, who is leader of the NDP, said yesterday that he could not understand why the government would want to take over the two banks, whose controversial reputation could affect the rest of the off-shore banking sector, when it could simply have revoked the licence for their operations.

The take-over by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ administration of New Bank Limited and Nano and Sons Ltd is said to have been done to protect the interest of depositors. But as Eustace claimed, in the absence of any clear policy statement, “this development is most puzzling, particularly given the controversy surrounding these banks.”

While in government, the NDP had revoked the licence of the two banks that were operated by French businessman Thierry Nano who fled the country in November and is being sought as a fugitive from justice by the FBI armed with a warrnt for his arrest by the US District Court in Southern Florida.

But on assuming power following last year’s general election, the government of Prime Minister Gonsalves renewed the licence for Nano to continue his off-shore banking operations. It was, however, co-operating with the US authorities when Nano escaped from the country.

EBC dismisses reports of shredded document

PORT-OF-SPAIN — Trinidad and Tobago’s Chief Elections Officer of the EBC, Howard Cayenne, has dismissed as “mischief-making” reports that the Commission was shredding documents relating to the conduct of the last month’s election.

Cayenne was reacting to inquiries from the Express newspaper of the seizure by the fraud squad of the Police Force of a pickup truck with a load of bags of shredded documents and boxes that had been uplifted from the EBC for dumping.

Th CEO has dismissed any suggestion of the shredded documents having anything to do with a proposed Commission of Inquiry into the operations of the EBC. He said it was a “normal day to day material. This is a paper-churning office. Paper comes in and goes out…It is unfortunate that some mischief maker would try to sensationalise something that we do every day.”