Barbados: Staff Report for the 2000 Article IV Consultation
IMF Staff Country Reports, December 4, 2000
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Barbados: Staff Report for the 2000 Article IV Consultation
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Published: December 4, 2000
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451805970.002
Executive summary
- Barbados has a stable political system and long-standing public consensus on key economic policies.
- The policy framework includes a fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar supported by prudent fiscal and wage policies.
- The authorities' medium-term strategy aims at stabilizing and restructuring the economy to address ongoing trade liberalization.
Labor market and unemployment
- Unemployment rate reached 9.8 percent at the end of 1999.
- This represented a decline of 2 percentage points compared with a year earlier.
- Job creation was driven mainly by the private sector, particularly construction.
Macroeconomic and policy framework
- Exchange rate regime: fixed exchange rate with the U.S. dollar.
- Fiscal and wage policies: described as prudent and supportive of the exchange rate regime.
- Policy consensus: long-standing public consensus on key economic policies noted as a stabilizing factor.
Strategic priorities and challenges
- Medium-term strategy: stabilizing and restructuring the economy.
- Primary challenge motivating strategy: ongoing trade liberalization.
Key statistics (as reported)
- Unemployment rate: 9.8 percent (end-1999).
- Change in unemployment: 2 percentage points lower than a year before.
Barbados: Staff Report for the 2000 Article IV Consultation. December 4, 2000. International Monetary Fund.