The latest ECLAC report states that the region is in deep debt, so deep that some countries are over 100 percent in debt. That COVID-19 money from the regional lending organisations put many a nation over the top. The International Monetary Fund’s shining star of the region, Barbados’s Mia Mottley, is too in deep debt over 100 percent and probably has no true way of paying that nation out of if any time soon.
What are we to do? It’s just too easy to say we need reforms, structural and economic and the like. It too is too easy to spout off economic theory like it matters on the ground when people are hungry.
I’m beginning to take the position myself of what the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor, Sir Hillary Beckles has been on about forever it seems and that is the region need reparations. But I won’t go as far as to pay us back all of the money you stole from us and our ancestors, because it will only make the region lazy and make our politicians even more corrupt than they are now. If you were to pay Barbados $100m right now in reparations, just to give a good start, $50m of that will be gone in all out theft right from the Treasury. Another $25m in bogus contracts to our friends, family members and lovers. The bottom poor, who could use the money the most, will probably see less than 10 percent of that reparations money.
What I would not mind however is debt forgiveness. I think all of these loans from the IMF, IDB, CDB, USAid, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and even China, all have to be forgiven to us. Especially loans from the US and Britain and their controlled development organisations.
It is only right.