Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017

176 insensitive while preaching austerity in public. 90 The Bank apologised to Government for the embarrassment and issued two press statements which sought to explain the situation. The governor also gave an interview to the news media during which he presented evidence that local firms were getting much of the business to supply office furniture. Soon after this, there appeared the first public acceptance of the building. One reason was that Barbadians were getting the opportunity to see the building up close because of the tours that Carl Moore was conducting. People were very keen to visit the tallest building in the country and guided tours had started in 1984. From January to mid-September of 1985 there were 90 public tours of the new building. 91 An article in one daily newspaper underscored some of the changing public sentiment. Headlined “Magnificent views from an imposing landmark”, the writer noted that “While I can think of ... many things ... $60 million would have been spent on rather than a central bank... the new complex is a magnificent landmark in the modernisation of Bridgetown...” 92 The early days of the 1991-93 economic crisis The circumstances which put Governor King and the Bank under public scrutiny during late 1991 and early 1992 evolved somewhat differently from those during Dr. Blackman’s tenure. The Barbadian economy was in recession, the foreign reserves were critically low and a possible stabilisation programme was being discussed with the IMF. This situation was tailor-made for a barrage of headlines, editorials and letters between September 1991 and January 1992. One set of comments dealt with the foreign exchange situation. Columnists emphasised the fact that the foreign reserves were very low with one illustrating his story with a bar chart that showed the sharp decline in the reserves between March 1989 and May 1991. It was mentioned that the Bank had resorted to short-term borrowing and one writer intimated, albeit erroneously, that the Bank had defaulted on some loan repayments.