BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados is forecasting less than one per cent real economic growth for 2013 up from “no real growth” last year.
The Central Bank of Barbados said that the 0.7 per cent forecast for this year is based on the most recent forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of average growth of 1.7 per cent for the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, the island’s major trading partners.
In a review of the Barbados economic performance for 2012 and prospects for 2013, the Central Bank said that the projections were also based on an improvement in consumer expenditure in these markets of 1.2 per cent.