(Barbados Nation) Barbados will borrow over Bds$250 million from the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank in an effort to make itself energy-efficient and cut the country’s high fuel import bill, says Prime Minister Freundel Stuart.
Noting that Barbados had spent US$393 million, or six per cent of GDP, on oil imports last year, Stuart told the opening of the three-day Sustainable Energy For All Conference that this had a negative impact on direct production costs and the overall competitiveness of the island’s economy, while severely affecting Caribbean competitiveness.
With this in mind, he told those gathered in the Hilton Barbados ballroom that Barbados was planning to procure US$115 from the IDB through two policy-based loans to help modernize the energy sector, establish an Energy Smart Fund with the assistance of an IDB US$10 million (Bds$20 million) loan, and negotiate with the IDB for the establishment of another fund – the Public Sector Smart Energy Fund – to execute various renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the public sector.