The IMF Has Completed its First Review of the BERT Programme

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed its first review of the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Programme (BERT). The team, which was headed by Bert van Selm visited Barbados from May 7 to 17 to meet with Government and Central Bank of Barbados officials.

At the end of the visit, van Selm issued a statement saying:

“Barbados continues to make strong progress in implementing its ambitious and comprehensive economic reform program. International reserves, which reached a low of US$220 million (5–6 weeks of import coverage) at end-May 2018, have more than doubled since then. The rapid completion of the domestic part of a debt restructuring has been very helpful in reducing economic uncertainty, and the new terms agreed with creditors have put debt on a clear downward trajectory. The authorities have started the reform of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) by tightening reporting requirements and shedding excess staff.

“All program targets for end-March under the EFF have been met. The program target for Net International Reserves was met by a wide margin, as was the target for the Central Bank of Barbados’ Net Domestic Assets (NDA). The targets for the primary surplus, central government grants to SOEs, central government domestic arrears, and social spending were also met.”

The statement noted that the IMF team and local authorities had reached a staff level agreement, and that pending approval the IMF’s Executive Board, Barbados will have access to another $49 million.

Read the full statement here.