Barbados stands at a critical economic juncture, with top financial, business and academic leaders issuing a stark warning that the country could slide further behind competing Caribbean economies if national wage negotiations remain limited to minimum wage adjustments rather than tackling systemic issues including lagging productivity, gaping data deficits and the true burden of the cost of living. The joint call to action came during a high-profile panel discussion hosted just after the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) annual general meeting, held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, bringing together Finance Minister Ryan Straughn, BEC Executive Director Sheena Mayers-Granville, and Winston Moore, Professor of Economics and Deputy Principal at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. The panel’s conversation centered on the interconnected structural barriers holding back Barbados’ productivity and long-term economic expansion.