Hurricane Beryl hits Barbados economy with a $193M blow

Though Hurricane Beryl did not cause a humanitarian crisis on the island, its hit on the economy is estimated at 193 million Barbados dollars.

This is equivalent to 0.15% of the country’s gross domestic product, with damage accounting for 58% of the total effects, followed by 36% in losses and additional costs of 5%.

Tourism, fisheries and agriculture, and the environment accounted for 84% of total effects.

That’s according to a report of an assessment of the effects and impacts of Hurricane Beryl on Barbados, 2024, facilitated by the Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Economic Affairs Officer at ECLAC, Dr. Omar Bello, gave an insight into the report at the Climate Resilient Recovery in the Blue Economy/Fisheries Following Hurricane Beryl forum.

Dr. Bello further explained that when assessing the social, productive, infrastructural and environmental sectors, the results showed 60% of the total effects of the disaster were on the productive sector, 24% on the environment, and 3% on the social sector.