Barbados at a Crossroads Economic Overview and Outlook
The quarterly economic update provided by the Governor of the Central Bank contained many important data revisions and insights – some of which may not have been obvious. To start with, as we expected, the 2017 growth rate was revised – from 1.0% reported in January 2018 to 0.6% affirmed in May 2018. Growth has therefore averaged 0.9% since the turn of the century. For the first quarter of 2018, the picture worsened, as GDP contracted 0.7% y/y for the January-March period.