A UWI economist is forecasting that Prime Minister Mia Mottley will provide some relief for consumers from the high cost of living when she delivers her 2024 Budgetary Proposals in Parliament on Monday.But the spokeswoman for the nation’s small business community has declared that instead of new proposals, it wants to see existing long-promised initiatives properly implemented, such as the junior stock exchange, collateral registry, and revisions to online and small business taxes from previous budgets.Professor Justin Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal at the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, also predicts that businesses would be offered initiatives to boost growth in the economy.“What I anticipate is that the government would be trying to be innovative…will try to find ways to generate the fiscal space that it can do at least two things,” he told Barbados TODAY.One of those things, he suggested, would be “some ease around the cost of living that persons have been complaining about, also provide initiatives for businesses and sectors of the economy, all aimed at driving growth”.
