PM Mottley: Natural Disaster Clauses Are Critical

(Barbados Government Information Service) Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has emphasised the importance of natural disaster and pandemic clauses, saying they are critical for these times.

Ms. Mottley expressed this view on Wednesday as she participated in a high-level panel discussion for the Virtual Conference on Climate-Related Natural Disasters: Macroeconomic Effects and Policy Responses, hosted by the International Monetary Fund.

The Prime Minister proffered the view that natural disaster clauses brought certainty to the lender and borrower.  “I am very happy we had this clause…. I wished we would have had it for the pandemic…. I wish also that the international financial institutions [regional and multilateral development banks] would take it (the natural disaster clause) up and we have been campaigning for that, largely because…quite frankly, it will give us that fiscal space for two years, should an event occur.

“If we had had it (the clause) with the pandemic, we would have been able to remove an average of 7 to 8 per cent of our own GDP in terms of fiscal space to meet the concerns. Our debt has gone from 177% to 118% and it has gone back up now to 152%, largely as a result of the pandemic and…not because of increased borrowing, but because of contraction of our economy.”

Read more at: Barbados Government Information Service

Source: CARICOM TODAY