Barbados is an eastern Caribbean island with a population of about 282,000. Being a small island, Barbados is very susceptible to economic disturbances caused by external factors such as natural disasters as well as raises in import costs. COVID-19 also played a huge factor in an increase in poverty on the island, drastically affecting tourism, one of the island’s main sources of income. There have been many innovations in poverty eradication in Barbados including a post-COVID-19 tourist boom, as well as government-led plans and programs which target the economy to alleviate poverty on the island.

Tourism Effect

The increase in tourists to pre-COVID-19 levels has definitely helped the poverty issue within Barbados as the economy has since grown by 4.5% with the return of tourists to the island post-pandemic. GDP rose 4% just in 2024 in Barbados, and both tourism and manufacturing have seen a 5.5% increase in the traded sector while non-traded sectors went up by 3.7%.

The number of prolonged tourist visits in Barbados increased by 10.7%, and the number of cruise calls increased by 53, causing a 40.8% rise in tourists by cruise, according to the Central Bank of Barbados. These event tactics that focus on tourist booms are critical to the economy and are a huge innovation in poverty eradication in Barbados as their economy relies heavily on tourism, as 50% of export income is attributed to tourism, and is truly a driving point for the economy.

The Role of BERT

Along with tourism, there are multiple ongoing and promising government-led plans, one of the most prominent being the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT). BERT recently received support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) along with the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) as well as an arrangement by the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). Help from these facilities if approved by the IMF would mean a total of $56 million between both facilities would be made available to BERT.

BERT is one of the most important innovations in poverty eradication in Barbados as it has been working and reimplemented since 2018 in a mission to restore and support the macroeconomics of the island, by doing structural reforms and shifting towards a more tourism based economy.

BERT has also worked against certain external shock factors such as natural disasters to not disrupt the visitor-based economy it is building. It has started the Stormwater Management Act to combat flood risks, has started to shy away from fossil fuels and is looking at renewable energy sources to prevent economic growth from stunting due to such factors.

The BERT plan was based on the government’s anti-poverty alignment and strives for long-standing and sustainable growth and has so far proven to be beneficial to the island. In combination with new tourism business and tactics, Barbados is on the right track toward economic success. These innovations in poverty eradication in Barbados have benefited Barbados greatly as unemployment rates drop, and domestic business has increased since both the tourist boom and the reimplementation of BERT.

– Cheyenne Weller

Cheyenne is based in Boston, MA, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr