Strong economic growth recorded Jan-Sept

Barbados’ economy grew by 4.4% for the first nine months of the year.

This revelation from Central Bank Governor, Dr. Kevin Greenidge, as he delivered the Bank’s Economic Review this morning.

He said this represents the strongest nine months of growth since 2006, with the exception of last year when the figure stood at 17.3%.

What’s more, Dr. Greenidge said the growth was spread across multiple sectors, making it more resilient.

According to Dr. Greenidge, even though the debt stock increased by roughly 187 million dollars, the Debt to GDP ratio fell five percentage points to 115.4%.

Reserves rose to 2.9 billion dollars or approximately 30.3 weeks of import cover, while unemployment fell to 8.5% as of the end of June.

Tourism continues to be the main driver of economic growth, but Dr. Greenidge has expressed concern about the airlift out of the US.

As for the outlook for the remainder of the year, the Central Bank Governor says the economy is expected to continue to grow between 4 and 5% of GDP.

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