Barbados enters precautionary standby agreement with IMF

Ajouté : 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]that we've reached a staff level agreement on a precautionary standby arrangement.

[00:00:04]Uh the precautionary arrangement will be for the amount of 189 million SDRs or about 260 million US dollars.

[00:00:12]Um we expect the request to go to the IMF executive board for consideration sometime in in June.

[00:00:18]So, the key objectives of the standby arrangement will be firstly, to provide insurance against external shocks uh in a in a more shock-prone world.

[00:00:27]Secondly, to help preserve macroeconomic stability. And thirdly, to support the reforms under the homegrown uh BERT 2026 plan, which itself moves from the the focus from stabilization and growth towards long-term economic transformation. To put it simply in language that Bajans understand, Bajans go and get a line of credit from the credit union or the bank. The fact that you got a line of credit don't mean you draw down everything.

[00:00:53]We have a line of credit here. No, we're not drawing down anything at this point in time. Should we need to draw it down, it would be triggered by external processes. I'm satisfied, as I said, that Barbados is in a comfortable position, but we are conscious that headwinds from the global economy can cause us to do so rather than do so.

[00:01:18]And it is up to us to keep everything tight and disciplined while thinking outside of the box.