The

Mia Mottley government in Barbados may inject between $100 million and $150

million into the local economy to fortify Barbados against a potentially

crippling blow from the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The

need for this major spending in health, tourism and the wider economy is now

being discussed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It follows the

Barbados Economic Team’s latest forecast that Covid-19’s fallout could result

in an economic contraction ranging from 4.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent this year.

The authorities are basing their proposals on various estimates and assumptions, including the World Travel & Tourism Council’s projection that the deadly virus could reduce global travel by up to 25 per cent in 2020. Dr Kevin Greenidge, a senior economic adviser to the government, outlined the plans now being considered in an assessment shared with the Barbados Nation newspaper.

Greenidge

said Government “will need to respond to the pandemic by increasing health and

infrastructure spending to prevent, detect, control, treat, and contain the

virus, to provide basic services to people that have to be quarantined, as well

as to aid the businesses affected”.

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