Barbados has pushed back its target for achieving debt sustainability of around 60 per cent by two years, due to Government debt continuing to rise between April and June of 2021.

Government debt has now reached 150.3 per cent of GDP, or US$13 billion, and the timeline for reducing it to 60 per cent has moved from the 2033-2034 financial year to 2035-2036.

At the same time, Cleviston Haynes, governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, says the Caribbean nation has recorded growth of 5.5 per cent for the April to June quarter.

Haynes is predicting growth of one to three per cent for calendar 2021.

The central bank governor said the performance of the economy continued to be constrained by the protracted COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a dramatic falloff in tourism and a national lockdown in February.

He noted, however, that “preliminary data suggests that the economic recovery has started”.

International reserves increased by US$88 million during the April to June review period, to reach US$2.7 billion or just over 10 months of import cover.

Barbados is maintaining a primary balance target of zero per cent of GDP for the 2021-2022 financial year ending March 2022.

Total revenues declined by two per cent or US$122 million, to reach 7.6 per cent of GDP, while expenditure increased by some US$27 million, to reach 6.9 per cent of GDP at the end of June.