kevin greenidge : you can achieve even more remarks by dr kevin greenidge, governor of the central bank of barbados, at the 3rd annual resilience awards, bridgetown, 28 august 2024. * * * hello, everyone! it's so great to be here with all of you today at this third annual resilience ceremony sponsored by the barbados association of social workers. i want to start by saying how proud i am of each and every one of you. you've all done something amazingyou've worked hard and passed the barbados secondary schools entrance examination. now, you're getting ready to start a new and exciting adventure in secondary school! i know some of you have faced tough times. maybe you've had to deal with hardships, violence, or not having enough money. but guess what? you didn't let that stop you. you kept going, and you succeeded. and that's why i believe you can achieve even more! why am i here today ; why was i invited to speak to you? let me share a little story with you. when i was your age things weren't always easy for me either. i grew up in a children's home. i struggled in school and sometimes felt like giving up. but i saw other people succeed, and i thought, " if they can do it, so can i! " i decided to work hard and never give up, no matter how hard it got. i also set myself certain principles which have taken me through life, and now i will share five of those principles with you. principle 1 : set your goals and believe in yourself here's a secret : you don't have to be the best at everything right now. what's important is that you set goals for yourself and work towards them. think of your goals as a map that guides you to where you want to go. without a map, you might wander aimlessly, but with a map, you have direction. what do you want to achieve in this new school? it could be as simple as doing better in math, joining a club, making the football / netball team, or reading more books. whatever your goal, write it down, and keep it where you can see it every day. this will remind you of what you are working towards. having these goals will give you a sense of purpose and something to strive for each day. remember, it's your life, and

departure tax ( apd ), implemented in november 2009, will aggravate the decline in uk arrivals. however, the growth in canadian arrivals should remain robust. international business sector tight global credit conditions and persistent efforts by investors to reduce their risk exposures led inevitably to a further contraction of the international business sector, following the small decline observed in 2008. the number of new entrants fell, and there was a drop in the value of corporate tax receipts from the sector. up to september 2009, new licences were only a little more than half the number recorded in 2007 and 2008 ( figure 4 ). after adjusting for $ 45. 6 million in taxes due in 2008 but recorded in 2009, collections of income tax from firms in the international business sector for the first three quarters were substantially below those of 2008 ( table 4 ). this decline, which follows contractions in both 2007 and 2008, has had a noticeable impact on government revenue, as offshore receipts have on average accounted for 11 % of total government revenue since 2005. figure 4 : new licences issued to offshore companies ( january - september ) international business companies societies with restricted liability other source : central bank of barbados and the department of inland revenue table 4 : corporate tax receipts ( $ million ) actual adjusted * change change corporate receipts ( offshore ) 251. 4 219. 9 266. 9 47. 0 274. 7 240. 3 - 34. 4 corporate receipts ( domestic ) 248. 4 205. 7 190. 9 - 14. 8 196. 5 171. 9 - 24. 6 total corporate tax receipts 499. 8 425. 6 457. 8 32. 2 471. 2 412. 2 - 59. 0 * these values readjust the collections to reflect the delayed $ 45. 6 million payment from 2008 to 2009 source : central bank of barbados and the department of inland revenue as part of its programme to strengthen the existing bilateral tax treaty network, barbados signed an additional bilateral investment treaty with the belgium - luxembourg economic union ( bleu ), bringing to ten the number of bilateral investment agreements which barbados has in place. in addition, the number of double - taxation agreements in force increased to 18 as the accord between barbados and mexico, which was signed in 2008, came into effect. other exports merchandise exports, as well as receipts from goods and services, continued to be negatively affected by the tapering off of global aggregate demand and the falloff in commodity prices over the period. the decline in the output