Barbados is spending more foreign exchange on importing cars than on medicines or ships — ranking third in the country’s overall import bill — as a growing culture of entrepreneurship and side-hustles drives vehicle numbers past 181 000, Barbados TODAY can reveal.
As the government struggles to address a traffic management crisis, the head licensing technocrat said the need by Barbadians to supplement their incomes is driving new vehicle purchases and adding to the already worrisome road congestion.
In 2024, Barbados imported $111m in motor cars – only outstripped by refined petroleum at $520m, and crude petroleum – $234m, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), a globally reputed online data visualisation and distribution platform focused on the geography and dynamics of economic activities.
The OEC, which integrates and distributes data from a variety of sources to empower analysts in the private sector, public sector and academia, also disclosed that the amount of money spent on bringing cars into this country was higher than packaged medicaments – $42.9m, and passenger and cargo ships – $42.5m.
But the chief licensing officer, Treca McCarthy-Broomes, has revealed a new factor she says is contributing to the rising number of registered cars on the roads, which currently stands at 181 544.
McCarthy-Broomes identified a growing number of small entrepreneurs and side-hustle operators which are helping to significantly expand the gridlock on the roads.
“Persons are seeking side-hustles…other forms of revenue, and they are seeking to get permits, or they open up small businesses and they are buying vehicles to use as hirers or taxis or commercial vehicles. You will find that a lot of that is occurring,” the chief licensing officer told Barbados TODAY exclusively in an interview on Wednesday.
“People want to supplement their revenue, their income. So, they are looking for other means. So, you find now that people who have less hours working, they are looking…’well, I have to get revenue to take care of my children, I have to pay my bills, I have to take care of my aging parents,’ and they have to bring in revenue. So, some of them are getting taxi permits, some open up small businesses to sell whatever; and they are getting the ‘C’ [commercial] plates, and becoming entrepreneurs. So, the push for entrepreneurship, you are really seeing the results of the push for entrepreneurship.”
The drive towards becoming entrepreneurs is being reflected in an increasing number of Barbadians working two jobs, said McCarthy-Broomes.
“You are seeing an increase in that and hence, an increase in the number of vehicles on the road. But you would realise, too, that a lot of them are not sold. You would see a lot of the car lots and pastures and you would see under people’s trees…a lot of little areas with vehicles that are to be sold. You are finding a lot of that. A lot of people are going for the taxis and the hired car permits and the ‘C’ plates…a lot of them…there are no two ways about it. You are seeing an increase in that area.”
The chief licensing officer continued: “You are finding some families coming together and purchasing vehicles together. I see a lot of siblings purchasing vehicles together and they would get the ‘C’ plates and the hired vehicles and look to hire out to get money. So, you are seeing a lot of increase in that. That might not be the only reason, but the entrepreneurship push, you can see that there has been an increase in that area.”
The Barbados Licensing Authority is collaborating with The Barbados Police Service and the insurance industry to arrest the problem of uninsured vehicles on the roads, she added.
The OEC data shows that the money spent on importing cars in 2024 is part of a national import bill of $2.58bn, compared to an overall export revenue of just $443m.
The government has proposed the construction of flyovers as one measure to tackle the troubling traffic management situation, even as Barbadians provided solutions during a series of national consultations on traffic dubbed The Way Forward.
The solutions proposed cover infrastructural development and urban planning, schools transport, new modes of transport, public transport, measures to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads, safety and enforcement and road quality and standards.
(EJ)
