Central Bank of Barbados
The Central Bank of Barbados is predicting that the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic could result in a decline in economic activity of up to 13 per cent this year.
Delivering his first economic review for the first quarter of 2020, Governor of the Central Bank, Cleviston Haynes, said preliminary forecasts of negative growth of eight per cent for 2020 were based on a relatively swift recovery of the tourism sector.
However, he says given the deepening global health crisis, there is now increased likelihood of a double digit decline in economic activity.
Mr. Haynes reported that a sharp drop in tourism and related activities during the second half of March contributed to the economy declining by three per cent in the first three months of this year.
Tourism contracted by 16.2 per cent as a result of a 17.9 per cent decline in long-stay visitors and 11.5 per cent in cruise passengers.
The manufacturing and agricultural sectors remained weak during the January to March period, and commodity exports also registered a modest decline.
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