Barbados’ top banking official has issued a public apology for brushing off a reporter’s transparency question, finally releasing the first-phase cost figures for the country’s newly launched national instant payment platform BiMPay.
Central Bank Governor Dr. Kevin Greenidge released an official video statement Wednesday acknowledging his inappropriate response to a journalist’s cost inquiry at a Monday post-launch press conference. At that earlier event, the governor sparked widespread public criticism when he dismissed the question, telling the reporter the cost did not matter and directing them to find embedded figures in existing financial reports rather than providing a direct answer.
In his Wednesday address, Greenidge took accountability for the misstep, noting the public has a clear right to know how taxpayer-funded public resources are allocated. “A reporter asked me a fair question on the cost of BiMPay, and I should have answered it directly. There is no place for making light of a question like that, and no place for seeming dismissive of the public’s right to know how public resources are being used,” he said.
The governor extended his apology first to the reporter, who he noted was only carrying out their professional duties, and then to all members of the public who perceived his response as disrespectful, evasive, or unwilling to meet accountability standards. He clarified he never intended to hide information, but acknowledged that his phrasing came across as non-transparent to audiences.
Greenidge explained his initial hesitation stemmed from a desire to avoid out-of-context discussion of a single cost figure without context on what the spending covered, but emphasized this was not a justification for his evasiveness. He then released the official figures: the entire first-phase payment infrastructure for BiMPay, which launched last Friday, has so far cost approximately $6.7 million, coming in well under the $10 million approved total budget for the phase.
“You cannot hide expenditure of this kind in public financial reporting to which I have referred. The Central Bank has always been prepared to explain clearly what has been spent, why it has been spent, and what Barbados has been receiving for it,” he added, noting that full final cost figures will be published once remaining works are completed and reconciled through standard public financial processes.
BiMPay, the Caribbean nation’s first real-time domestic payment system, allows instant, secure money transfers between commercial banks and credit unions 24 hours a day. Early data from the Central Bank shows the platform processed 20,000 transactions totaling nearly $8 million in its first 48 hours of operation.
Greenidge highlighted the system’s core public benefits, noting it reduces overall business costs: individual users pay no transaction fees, and fee caps have been put in place to protect micro and small businesses. He also addressed early user frustrations with token access, account registration, multi-account linking, and in-app performance, confirming the Central Bank is collaborating closely with participating financial institutions to resolve these growing pains quickly.
The governor emphasized that public trust is foundational to the success of this major national digital infrastructure initiative, and reaffirmed his longstanding commitment to transparent communication of financial and economic issues to the Barbadian public, pointing to his years of public educational explainer series on complex topics. He closed by promising continued full accountability to citizens and collaborative work to ensure BiMPay delivers maximum public benefit.