Barbados is back!

(Barbados Today) This was the sentiment expressed by the Government’s Economic Advisor Dr. Kevin Greenridge during an address to the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) on Wednesday. This comes on the heels of the Barbados Central Bank receiving its $200Mn check from the IDB, which pushed the country’s reserves above $1Bn for the first time since the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme was set in motion. After reaching a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in early September, and approval of an extended fund facility of about US$290 million in October, the island received pledges from other international lending agencies ($150Mn from the Caribbean Development Bank and $200Mn form the IDB). This puts the country in a much better position relative to the  $577.1Mn (7 weeks of import) reported in September of this year.  This is also a significant improvement over its all-time low of about $410Mn (6.6 weeks) reported last December.