Business View Caribbean | October 2022

16 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 10 Persaud suggests, “allowed us to survive to build stronger and greater resilience too.” While Barbados works to manage the cost- of-living increases, Persaud reports, “There’s a limit to what we can do, because the cost of living crisis, especially in food and fuel, is being caused by things that are external to us. We have tried to cut taxes or cap value-added taxes, and we recently instituted some caps on freight and fuel prices. We feel we may be over the worst and we will be able to have a lower cost of living over the next 12 to 18 months. But of course, it’s hard for us to predict and plan around an event several thousand miles away and unrelated to us. As for economic strategy, he says the government is looking to the future, investing in a world that is still somewhat unknown. “Our development model is that we want everyone in our country to be in a position to choose the life they wish to lead. That means investing heavily in their education and training. We are also investing heavily in broadband and digital technologies. We view our future as having Barbadians exporting professional services down a broadband connection. Those professional services would be those they’ve chosen, helped with government support with training and certification, primarily online, but also with the University of West Indies in the Caribbean, and our non-University vocational training.” Boasting that Barbados has some of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world, Persaud adds that the government is also investing in the environment, which he believes will further boost the economy of the island. He maintains, “We are going to be 100%, fossil fuel free in the generation of electricity in another 10 years time. That then holds huge investments in solar primarily, but also some wind-power.” The Government has also initiated a