Country Strategy

Together, IDB staff and Barbados determine how Barbados' priorities coincide with the Bank’s development strategies for the region. The product of that process is the IDB country strategy with Barbados, containing the Bank’s expected program for Barbados.

Country strategies include an overview of a country’s current economic situation. They draw on analytical work conducted by the Bank and other parties on a wide range of economic and social sectors, such as rural and urban development, health, education, government modernization, transportation, trade, and the environment, among others.

Country Strategy with Barbados (2009-2013)

Despite significant economic and social progress in recent decades, Barbados exhibits a series of vulnerabilities that could threaten hard-won gains. Burgeoning fiscal and external imbalances preclude a major fiscal stimulus to soften the impact of the current global financial crisis on the island’s economy, while existing weaknesses in the local business climate are increasingly exposed by the loss of trade preferences abroad and growing market liberalization at home; high energy costs exacerbate these problems. Scarce (and poorly managed) water supplies and coastal erosion pose a threat to the island’s crucial tourism industry, and climate change is likely to further increase these vulnerabilities. Gaps in education—particularly in school-to-work transition and technical and vocational training—have led to unmet needs in the labor market and added to youth unemployment.

The IDB Country Strategy with Barbados (2009-2013) (the “Strategy”) will support the Government of Barbados in addressing these vulnerabilities, both through the existing portfolio—which focuses on public sector modernization and includes programs to address the country’s fiscal challenge—and support in four priority areas: coastal zone management and climate change adaptation; water and sanitation; energy; and education. Specifically, the Strategy will contribute to the achievement of four country development goals: (i) building resilience to coastal risks, natural disasters and climate change; (ii) more efficient water supply and resource management; (iii) reduced oil import bill, promotion of clean energy and more efficient use of energy; and (iv) improved quality and relevance of the education system. All four areas are aligned with the Bank’s corporate priorities, are critical for the competitiveness of the Barbadian economy and will be the focus of country programming in both sovereign-guaranteed and non-sovereign-guaranteed lending.

The expected results of the Strategy include, among others: (i) improved public sector capacity to understand and manage coastal risk factors such as erosion, flooding, reef degradation and natural disasters; (ii) a more efficient and financially viable Barbados Water Authority (BWA); (iii) a new institutional and policy framework for promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy; and (iv) higher student academic performance in core subjects, and improved delivery of technical and vocational training programs. The expected results will be tracked through the results matrix.