Barbados’s Economy Continues To Grow

• Barbados’ economy has grown for the fifth consecutive quarter, but the current extremely challenging global economic environment has prompted the Central Bank to slightly lower its growth forecast for the rest of the year.
• The economy grew 10.5% for the first half of 2022. Though vibrant, the expansion was weaker than in the first quarter (11.8%). The recovery is mainly reflective of the rebound in tourism activity and there were also modest gains in manufacturing exports and domestic spending.
• The economist noted that while tourism-related activity had not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, "the easing of the protocols opened the way for increased domestic spending and enabled the labour market to show signs of a return to near normality".
• The downside, however, was that "inflationary pressures originating abroad were felt in the domestic market, raising the risk of a dampening of growth prospects". Additionally, with new investment projects coming on stream at a slower pace than anticipated and with construction costs rising, the bank has lowered its growth forecast slightly, within the range of 9 to 10%, with the possibility of a stronger outturn if tourism is more favourable than currently forecast.

(Source: Nation News)