Barbados’ Motley Default Crew Crucible
After her party’s sweeping election victory taking all seats in parliament in a repudiation of the government’s economic mismanagement, including failure to modernize sewage treatment as it leaked into tourism spots, Prime Minister Motley bowed to the inevitable with an intended IMF program and debt restructuring. Last year’s emergency fiscal plan showed meager results as ratings agencies kept the near default CCC sovereign grade, and commercial banks were forced to raise bond exposure on incremental central bank deficit financing withdrawal. Two thirds of the debt is domestic, but international bond prices almost halved following her announcement with the likelihood of a haircut coupled with thin liquidity. Analysts shifted course after originally predicting the Jamaica model would be followed and spare foreign obligations. Its bonds and stocks have languished too this year, with the latter down 5% on the MSCI frontier index. Trinidad’s component in contrast was up 10% through May on higher energy export value, although it is at risk from Venezuela’s mass exodus with Tobago just a short boat trip away. Both neighbors are at least growing unlike Barbados, where output shrank half a percent on an annual basis into the poll period. The Fund in its latest Article IV report projected 1% medium term expansion with the reported 135% of GDP gross debt, reserves at less than two months imports, and “lingering uncertainty.” The current account gap remains at 2-3% as planned hotel and oil facility privatizations are delayed. The 2017 adjustments were geared toward tax increases while state enterprise reform lagged, according to the review. Government borrowing was almost half of GDP the last fiscal year and bank minimum allocation was hiked to one-fifth of deposits in January as private sector credit was flat. Bad loans are in high single digits and profitability is minimal, but capital adequacy at 20% of assets is a shock absorber. The public wage and pension bills are crushing and job and benefit cuts are overdue and social safety nets must also be better targeted in the future, the Fund observed. Fifteen companies and funds receive most of the transfers which are almost 40% of total spending, and the national social security scheme runs large arrears and has disproportionate government bond holdings. The insurance sector is stagnating, offshore business registration should be more closely monitored, and the longstanding currency peg may be in question with evidence of overvaluation, it added.
The Caribbean does not feature as a preferred venture capital destination in the latest industry statistics and rankings compiled by EMPEA, which had Asia and Latin America ex-Brazil in the top 5 spots. The former took 90% of Q1 $7 billion fundraising, and disclosed transactions for the period were a record $17 billion. E-commerce deals were one-third the total, with fintech just behind as a popular play. Impact investment vehicles gathered $200 million through a half-dozen offerings, although 80% of LPs surveyed specifically weigh environment and social factors in allocation. Emerging markets represent one-tenth of global subscriptions and 15% of company activity, while private equity penetration rates remain negligible at under 0.5% of GDP across the geographic range.
