Barbados: PM Mottley hints at more layoffs and restructuring

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has hinted at more layoffs within the public service, as she promised to update Barbadians on her administration’s external debt restructuring plan.

“Those discussions are continuing, and the public will be advised shortly of what we will be doing with respect to the foreign debt situation,” Mottley said on a radio interview.

She told listeners that “the truth is, the foreign debt has always been the smallest part of our overall debt, it’s just over 20 percent”. “But we do anticipate that we will have to bring resolution to that within the next few weeks and months,” Mottley said, noting that her administration – which took office in May last year – had inherited more than BDS$15 billion (US$7.5 billion) in public debt.

She said that workers at state-owned enterprises could be sent home, as the administration goes about restructuring the ailing economy.

“We have sent home so far just about 1,000 people,” she said, adding “there are still a few more layoffs, what I call the peak structural layoffs, to come in one or two state-owned enterprises.”

Mottley sad that the additional layoffs will come during the 3rd phase of the her administration’s restructuring program.

“Phase 3 starts in April this year and goes to December 2020 to deal with some of those state-owned enterprises that require a greater amount of time and process to go in and do what has to be done, so that you don’t end up without the services that have to be delivered.”

It is estimated that 10,000 people would have been rendered unemployed if the Mottley administration had not undertaken the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (BERT).

During the radio interview, Mottley sought to reassure Barbadians that the country will be successful in building a new society – giving more opportunities to citizens rooted in the premise of fairness and justice.

“Barbados is coming back economically and socially. We are not there yet; we have to stay the course, we have to remain focused.”

She described the Barbados economy as a patient that was suffering for a decade.

“The truth is that the medicine has only been applied for the last 6 months – so let’s give it a chance. So far, the medicine which is being applied is far less bitter than it might otherwise have been. There are those who did not believe that the domestic and the foreign debt restructuring should be part of the equation, and we said no – because the savings that we get in interest are approximately BDS$500 million (US$250 million), and the savings that we will get this year in amortization and principal is about BDS$800 million (US$400 million),” she added. -(CMC)