By Marlon Madden
ON ASSIGNMENT
Global Tourism Resilience Conference - Jamaica
While admitting that Barbados was “late out of the blocks” when it came to the full resumption of travel in and out of the island, Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill says he is pleased with the level of recovery achieved so far.
Though not providing the latest figures, Gooding-Edghill told the Global Tourism
It was on this day, January 19 that the ruling Barbados Labour Party, was given a resounding 30-0 victory in 2022, mimicking the same victory they had pulled off four years prior in 2018.
The General Election was called at the height of the country’s battle against the global COVID-19 pandemic. Mask wearing, social distancing, sanitising, and other protocols were very
The Accident and Emergency Department underwent renovations, but according to Paul Gibson, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) spokesman on health, the core issues have not been resolved.
Long wait times, staff shortages, inadequate space and
President of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr Ronnie Yearwood has labelled the Mia Mottley-led administration as “incompetent”, having failed at growing the economy, improving the island’s tourism product and tackling crime.In his first press conference for 2023, Dr Yearwood said the Government had been especially dismal in its handling of the economy which had seen only “negligible” growth.He accused the Barbados Labour Party administration of going on a “borrowing spree” since coming into office in 2018, with little to show for it.Dr Yearwood also highlighted an absence of any growth policies as evidence of Government’s failure.“The Barbados economy has struggled for growth under the Mia Mottley and the BLP administration. This is obviously due to the ravages of COVID-19, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that, but really, it has also been due really to the austerity measures imposed by the administration.
Dealing with the economy and crime should be Government’s main focus heading into 2023.That is the view of political scientists Dr George Belle and Dr Kristina Hinds, who both believe that the Mia Mottley-led administration will have its hands full, tackling the two critical issues next year.In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Dr Belle said the country’s continuing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and managing its debt have to be prioritised.“In the new year Barbados will have to continue to try to recover from the pandemic and from its debt problems that were predating the pandemic. Certain policies like BERT 1 [Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Programme] and BERT 2, have been implemented to try to get through the debt problems, and the IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme lives on.