Barbadians encouraged to invest in country with BOSS Plus Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

The ordinary Barbadian will now have the opportunity to invest in their country via Barbados Optional Savings Scheme Plus.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced on Saturday, July 16, that Government will be rolling out BOSS Plus following the success of the first tranche which targeted the public service.

BOSS was launched in July 2020 during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an “optional national meeting turn” to finance capital expenditure. Public servants were allowed to have a portion of their [gross] pay converted to bonds over an 18-month period. Pensioners were allowed to buy in as well.

Speaking to the media at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (LESC), Prime Minister Mottley said that it was time for Barbadians to shoulder some of the burdens and “step up to the plate and finance their country”.

“We have done all the things that we need to do, but we also need Barbadians now to step up to the plate and to help finance their country. When we introduced the BOSS bonds, we made it very clear that they would not be subject to any form of restructuring and indeed we did exceptionally well with the BOSS bond.

“After consideration, we have now agreed that we will launch in the next few weeks again BOSS Plus. The difference is, is that BOSS Plus this time will not just be the public sector but will be all Barbadians, all people living in this country, and all institutions operating in this country,” she detailed.

Previously, companies and the wider public would purchase bonds through the Central Bank or a broker.

Mottley emphasised that Barbados was facing a dire excess liquidity problem that needed to be urgently rectified.

“We have a situation where we have excess liquidity in this country – serious excess liquidity. We leave that money in the bank, making cash effectively irrelevant because if it is getting 0.01 per cent, it is being outstripped by inflation many times,” she commented while noting that Government also does not issue treasury bonds anymore.

“I need the average Barbadian household to play their part, whether it is $20, $50 or $200, or $500, $1000 or $5,000 or $10 000 a month, whatever it is or more we believe that now is the time for us to understand that we are all in this together. ” she continued.

Prime Minister Mottley added that the BOSS Programme will continue to be a regular financing feature.

“Government’s financing of its own programme especially at this time…is contingent on as we said with the BOSS Programme, on people stepping up to the plate and helping to carry their own country so that the BOSS Plus Programme will be launched and we hope this will become a regular feature of government financing in this country.”

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