In a recent Nation News article entitled Bajans told to save and invest more, Sandra Husbands, the Minister-of-State in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Business Development is reported to have urged Barbadians to spend less on dead ends and more on what will bring greater income.

What Was Reported 

In the article she is quoted as saying, “Our families tend to be families that consume. If you have $50 and you consume whatever it is that you bought with that $50 then that money is now dead, but had you taken that $50 and put aside some money and put it in some small business enterprise, and turned that $50 into $200, you would now be producing, so the life of that $50 becomes more”. 

Public Criticism 

In response to the article version shared on Facebook, one commentator wrote, “Another useless out of touch politician who is deflecting from the real issue, how can people save when the cost of basic goods is always going up? Wages aren’t increasing to match it so how can people save? When are bajans going to wake up and realise that no matter the party these politicians are all in it for themselves”. 

Another commented stating, “Too many out of touch statements. The cost of living is ridiculously high people are barely scrapping together to buy groceries and pay bills and then comments like these stupse. It really shows the massive disconnect that some of y’all ministers have with the rest of society”.

Similarly, another person wrote, “Bajan’s are telling the government stop taxing them so much , help reduce prices and freeze pay of politicians. Markets are volatile , inflation means money is decreasing in value . Politicians are out of touch and are the very buffoons who got us into this situation ……zero respect !”

Out of the 15 comments made on the post as of this publication’s date not one person gave an alternative view. In a social sea of many political colours there are surely those who would put up a defence; just as there are those who are adept offensive players. However, the fact that there was no defence speaks volumes.

It would be easy to agree with those criticising the Minister and almost as easy to find some way of disagreeing with them. It is must much more difficult to have a nuanced conversation about the topic since it touches so close to home.

Some Discussion 

The comments attributed to the Minister are a strange juxtaposition to the revelation earlier this month that Barbadians have over BBD 14 billion dollars (USD 7 billion dollars) in savings. As reported in Barbados Today, the Central Bank of Barbados’ latest data releases show that, “Barbadians continue to increase their savings while paying down their loans faster than they are borrowing from financial institutions … Haynes [The Central Bank Governor] indicated that while Barbadians continued to incur debt during the three months under review, the rate of repayment continued to outweigh new credit”. If it is the case that Barbadians, though borrowing more, are repaying their debts at a rate outpacing their borrowing there is a lot to be said for the historical assumption that Barbadians always repay their debts on time.

However, this does not mean that there isn’t something to be said in favour of Barbadians needing to invest more. Putting the savings part aside, we all know Barbados lacks an engrained investment culture. This should not be confused with entrepreneurship in general. 

Barbadians do need to invest in assets of all kinds that will give them long-term results. This does not only mean starting a business. It means putting money into financial instruments and savings plans which will give them good return on investment. 

The thing is, Barbados’ stock exchange is for from world-leading. We have few investment funds and even fewer independent ones. Many of us think insurance is an investment that will yield financial returns in your hand while insurance is… insurance. It’s there for a rainy day but it won’t help you “make it rain” when you’re out and about the town. As the Financial Express Article entitled Explained: Why insurance is not an investment puts it: 

Simply put, investment in a financial product is made with the intention of generating wealth after accounting for the investor’s financial goals, risk tolerance and return expectation. One can hold on to the investment and enjoy periodical returns, if applicable as with some fixed income investments. Alternatively, you can offload it at a future date for a lump sum profit to fulfil your financial goals such as making a down payment on a house, paying for a child’s education or as a corpus for your post-retirement needs.

A pure term insurance plan does not offer any kind of returns to the policyholder, either during the tenure or on surviving the policy term. In the event of an untimely demise, however, the death benefit is paid out to the nominees. The purpose of insurance is not to make you rich while you are alive, but rather ensure that your loved ones don’t become poor when you’re no longer there.

While insurance companies carry some investment products through their investment arms most people don’t understand the difference between the two; especially given the unified branding. There are different financial services for different things.

In short

Barbados is currently a negative space for the sort of business acumen that government officials  and the wider public want to see. Consequently, we are bound to get the sorts of comments about certain people being out-of-touch with reality. Whether or not those commenters know it, they are more critiquing their material / living conditions than they are the Minister’s comments. 

The people have spoken: Negative socio-economic environments are out-of-season. They want to live in a society that benefits them materially at all times. The bottom line is this: Barbadians want to see official words reflected in their pockets. 

What we need now is to hear more from those in-charge about what they have done, are doing and will do to give people the sort of fiscal and monetary environment that allows them to do just as they are being challenged to do. 

Of course, hearing is not enough. We must see to it that those with the power “to do”, do what needs to be done.