The Barbadian Economy Since Independence: A Glance Backward and a Look Ahead

• Author: Courtney Blackman
• Pages: 385-403

THE BARBADIAN ECONOMY SINCE INDEPENDENCE

385

Back in 1973 I visited with the legendary Masai warriors in a

remote part of Tanzania. I recall the deep sympathy I evoked from

one tribesman when he learned through an interpreter that I

possessed but one wife and no cows at all. In years gone by, a male

adolescent Masai achieved manhood, not merely by survival to

some predetermined age, but through the demonstration of

prowess in the slaying of a lion.

By analogy, the Barbadian economy can claim maturity, not

merely because our nation has survived for 21 years, but through

the resilience it has demonstrated during one of the most

turbulent periods in modern economic history. Not long after we

achieved independence, the Bretton–Woods Agreement, which

had provided exchange rate stability to the world international

trading community for a quarter century, collapsed in 1971; 1973

saw an explosive rise in inflation; 1974 brought us the first oil

shock when the price of oil quadrupled, leading to the recession

of 1975, and in 1979 the price of oil quadrupled once again, setting

off the 1981–82 world recession, the most severe since the Great

Depression of the 1930s. The US stock market collapse last month

was the icing on the cake.

These vicissitudes have overwhelmed many nations much larger

and better endowed than Barbados. African and Latin American

countries, with hardly any exceptions, have been devastated by

21

THE BARBADIAN ECONOMY

SINCE INDEPENDENCE

A GLANCE BACKWARD AND A LOOK AHEAD

THE PRACTICE OF ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

386

rapid inflation, frequent currency devaluations and a horrendous

debt burden, which have forced most of them to seek rescheduling

of their foreign liabilities, and driven others into default.

Meanwhile, Barbadians, admittedly at the cost of higher

unemployment and a greatly increased foreign debt, have enjoyed

a virtually uninterrupted improvement in our living standards and

have not defaulted on any of our overseas financial obligations.

I propose to use the twenty-first anniversary of our nation’s

independence as an occasion for sober reflection on the state of

our economy. This will involve, first of all, a review of our economic

performance since independence and a critique of our economic

management to date. This will enable us to get a fix on our current

economic situation. We will then look into the future to see what

challenges await us and what opportunity beckons. This will make

possible the formulation of effective strategies and policies for

the years ahead.

Finally, I will share with you my vision of how the Barbadian

economy might look as the nation approaches middle age. My

address will not be of the kiss-and-tell variety; it will be concerned

about economic policy, not about party politics or personalities,

and the chips will fall where they may.

Economic Performance since Independence

The three conventional measures of economic performance

are real per capita growth in gross domestic product, that is, growth

after allowance is made for inflation; price stability and the level

of unemployment. As an index of development, rather than

simple growth, I shall add a fourth criterion of performance —

structural economic change.

According to World Bank estimates the Barbadian economy

has grown at an average annual rate of about two and a half per

cent. This estimate, in my view, is understated but still compares

favourably with the performance of industrial market economies.