BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC - The Barbados government Thursday stood behind its medium term fiscal strategy (MTFS) in the face of a sluggish economy that has contracted by 0.4 per cent during the first quarter of the year. “It is not this government’s view that the MTFS has failed. That strategy like another was first set as a guide to ensure that we knew where we wanted to be at certain periods over the medium term in our deficit reduction programme,” Finance Minister Chris Sinckler told a news conference. Sinckler told reporters that the MFTS is set against certain parameters and expectation in the economic recovery process globally, regionally and domestically.