The

International Monetary Fund (IMF) is providing Barbados with US$48 million

after the executive board of the Washington-based financial institution

completed the second review of the multi-million dollar IMF Extended Fund

Facility (EFF).

The IMF

approved the US$290 million EFF programme for Barbados in October last year,

and the IMF said that programme implementation “is strong” and that “all

programme targets for end-June and end-September 2019 have been met.”

The IMF said

that since May 2018, international reserves have increased from a low of US$220

million to more than US$600 million at end-October 2019.

On Monday,

the IMF executive board completed the second review of Barbados’ economic

reform programme (BERT) supported by the EFF.

“The

completion of the review allows the authorities to draw the equivalent of SDR

35 million (about US$48 million), bringing total disbursements to the

equivalent of SDR 105 million (about US$145 million),” the IMF added.

Fiscal adjustment continues

The

executive board said it had also concluded the 2019 Article IV consultation

with Barbados and that a report on that review would be issued later.

IMF managing

director and acting chair, Tao Zhang, said Barbados continues to make good

progress in implementing its comprehensive home-grown economic reform programme

and that all quantitative performance criteria, indicative targets, and all

structural benchmarks for end-September 2019 were met.

He said the

fiscal adjustment continues as programmed with the primary surplus targeted at

six per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the financial year 2019/20 and

subsequent years.

“This target

for end-September 2019 was met by a significant margin, and the financial year

2019/20 budget provides a solid basis for reaching the target for the next

fiscal year. Tax policy reforms aim to enhance revenue, while improvements in

tax and customs administration are essential to support medium-term revenue,”

he said.