In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister tonight unveiled an “unprecedented” $2 billion economic plan over the next two years to prop up the economy.
The Prime Minister said a $400 million stimulus package for businesses to keep staff on the payroll had never before been seen in Barbados and was designed to “fill the holes in spending in the economy”.
She announced an economic plan would also focus on a public and private capital works programme (PPP), increasing the island’s self-sufficiency, the creation of a Barbados Tourism Fund and $210 million would be spent on families affected by the shutdown.
Mottley said: “Our economy was sticking to the course. [It] provided us with the reserves, provided us with the room, provided us with the credit and enough standing now regionally and internationally for us to launch this most comprehensive integrated programme that the country has ever seen, largely because we have never had this kind of crisis facing us.
“We’ve focused the programme on supporting those who have lost their jobs in the shutdown and to keep those as far as possible who have jobs into their jobs. The economic plan has five parts… and the effect of them is to fill the hole in spending in this economy to the tune of near $2 billion over two years.
“This is the biggest package of spending initiatives ever rolled out over a two-year period on a supplemental basis from what we would otherwise have as our core activities.”
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