The IMF Executive Board Has Approved USD $58 Million in Financing for Barbados

Barbados is set to receive USD $58 million in financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the agency’s Executive Board’s completion of its fifth and final review of the island’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangements.

In a statement announcing the approval of the funding, Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair of the Executive Board said:

“The implementation of Barbados’ homegrown Economic Recovery and Transformation program has remained strong, supported by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangements. The completion of the fifth and final reviews marks the successful conclusion of the Fund arrangements.”

The statement confirmed that “program performance has remained strong. All quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets were met,” and that “the authorities met the EFF structural benchmarks for the review.” It listed Barbados’ near-term economic outlook as stable, but cautioned that “risks remain tilted to the downside, given the highly uncertain external economic environment and Barbados’ vulnerability to shocks and natural disasters.” 

Li highlighted the importance of Barbados’ fixed exchange rate, noting that “the exchange rate peg remains a critical anchor for macroeconomic stability, supported by ample international reserves.” He noted that “measures have been taken to strengthen the monetary policy framework and financial safety nets” and confirmed that “efforts to enhance the local payments market and infrastructure are advancing, with the goal of moving to a digital payments system in 2026.”

This final tranche of USD $58 million brings the combined total the island has received under the EFF and RSF to USD $309 million.

Read the full statement here.