Prime Minister Mia Mottley has urged the business community to look inward when it comes to economic growth that is inclusive of all Barbadians.
“If anyone here can help redirect our growth to be inclusive, it is the people in this room,” she said at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) annual luncheon and discussion at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
In her 90-minute speech, she called on business leaders to A Mission-Oriented Strategy for Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth in BarbadosThe report, written by economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato, was published by the government in collaboration with the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University of London, and Social Partnerships.
The government's mission-driven Economic Transformation Strategy, unveiled in May, is a roadmap for inclusive growth and sustainable development in Barbados, which takes a whole-of-government approach to building public sector capacity, designing mission-oriented policy tools and institutions, engaging Barbadians, and renewing the social contract between government, labor and industry.
Mottley told an audience of the island's leading business executives and entrepreneurs that Barbados is at a stage where it needs inclusive growth – growth that includes those at the lower levels of society. Without this, he noted, Barbados risks becoming like many of its neighbors in the past.
“The visions we are beginning to see coming at us in the form of social breakdown and the proliferation of violence and guns may become increasingly real,” she warned.
“But there is a problem. We also need to go out to invest. There are many initiatives in the country but in most cases the source of funding and the nationality of the funds are increasingly foreign and not Barbadian. Is there any hope for our future?”
The Prime Minister declared that there was a clear domination of foreign investment, even though over $14 billion in domestic savings was sitting in the banks.
She explained that the Government’s mission-driven strategy is a “win-win” path towards the development of the nation, one that gives Barbadians the opportunity to both support and benefit from development.
Mottley suggested that now is not just a time to have spare cash, but a time to reinvest in the country's development.
“If we don't invest in this country, who will?” she asked. “The discussion here today is to wake us up to the fact that investment will come, investment must come, but investment must come not only from outside Barbados, but from within Barbados as well.” The reality is, there are some troubling issues that need to be addressed. [be got] “And we'll get that done in addition to what the government has to do institutionally.”
She said the establishment of unit trusts, repurposing and restructuring of the Enterprise Growth Fund Limited (EGFL) had kicked off an institutional effort to become “more responsive”. EGFL, which was aimed at equity financing, had run a number of funds in the past but they had been more passive, she said, declaring that more aggressive tactics were needed to invest in companies beyond debt financing.
“Too many companies continue to rely solely on debt financing without understanding that equity and mezzanine financing are absolutely critical to getting ahead,” Mottley said. “Part of the challenge is a shrinking population, and therefore a shrinking number of players, not just investors, but managers and technologists.”
She suggested that Barbadians needed to be more open to an influx of skilled labour to power a wide range of projects in the coming years.
She said: “The country needs to open up because just as we are ready to receive foreign investment, we also need additional skills to help manage it.”
Mottley also briefly noted the long absence of the Barbados Development Bank, which went bankrupt 40 years ago due to bad loans to private sugar mills and planters and was replaced by the Barbados National Bank (BNB), which was subsequently sold to Republic Bank.
But the chancellor said: “We don't want to reinvest in big monolithic structures that will concentrate money in control and profit rather than putting it into the areas that matter most.” (RG)
