The Central Bank of Barbados is refuting claims that Governor Dr. Kevin Greenidge did not make a distinction between real and nominal growth in his recent review of the economy for the first nine months of this year.
In a letter to the Editor, published in the Midweek Nation of Wednesday, November 8, 2023, economist Anthony Wood called on the Governor to present both figures.
The Bank wishes to make it clear that in its October 27 quarterly review, Governor Greenidge did indeed report real growth of 4.4 percent for the first nine months of 2023.
This information is available in both Figure 1 and Appendix 1 of the Press Release, which is available on the Bank’s website at: www.centralbank.org.bb.
The Bank also wishes to respond to Wood’s comment that Governor Greenidge compared the June 30, 2023 unemployment rate with that of June 30, 2022 rather than that of December 31, 2022.
It is customary for the Bank to compare the performance in the period under review with the same period in the prior year. The Bank does these comparisons for all statistics in the report, with the exception of the stock of international reserves to ensure that we are providing an accurate assessment of the economy, since seasonal factors can impact conditions between quarters.
Finally, the Bank wishes to state that while labour statistics including the unemployment rate are produced by the Barbados Statistical Service, the Bank has full confidence in the quality and integrity of those statistics.
(PR)