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1. Over the past three years, the government led by Prime Minister Mottley has successfully implemented a comprehensive economic reform agenda. Immediately after coming into office in May 2018, the government announced a comprehensive Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) plan, engaged with creditors to seek debt restructuring, and requested the support of the IMF and other international financial institutions (IFIs). A four-year Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support Barbados’ stabilization program was approved on October 1, 2018, and five program reviews have been successfully completed in a timely manner. The next parliamentary elections are due to take place by May 2023.
1. Belize entered the pandemic with pre-existing vulnerabilities. Real GDP growth had slowed from 4.7 percent in 2000–09 to 2.8 percent in 2010–14 and 1.8 percent in 2015–19. Moreover, the economy was in recession when the pandemic hit, with real GDP contracting by 2.2 percent year on year in the last quarter of 2019 and 6.3 percent in the first quarter of 2020.
1. The pandemic hit Chile while it was recovering from the impact of social unrest in October 2019. The economic performance before the unrest was solid, with growth averaging 3 percent in the preceding two years. The unrest triggered broad policy actions (see Country Report 2020/183) and the economy started recovering. Then, the Covid-19 outbreak induced a larger decline in growth, and prompted wide-ranging and unprecedented policy responses, accompanied by the approval of an FCL arrangement in May 2020.
1. Grenada’s economy grew strongly prior to the COVID-19 shock, supported by the implementation of important reforms and favorable external conditions. Real GDP growth averaged 4.5 percent during 2014-19, driven by agriculture, tourism, and construction, and spillovers from the long U.S. expansion. The successful implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Framework (FRF) helped address fiscal imbalances, boosted confidence, and underpinned an impressive reduction in public debt. An updated tax incentives regime helped attract foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Although still high, the poverty rate fell to 25 percent (from 38 percent in 2008) and unemployment declined to 15.4 percent in 2019.