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Barbados House Approves Debt-Swap Bill as Borrowing Ceiling Doubles to $5 Billion
By Maya Wilson
Barbados’s House of Assembly has approved legislation raising the Caribbean country’s national special-loans ceiling to $5 billion, a move intended to enable a $1.2 billion debt swap expected to free about $320 million for health priorities, according to Barbados Today and CBC Barbados.
Barbados Today reported Tuesday that the House approved the Special Loans (Amendment) Bill 2026. CBC Barbados, the country’s national broadcaster, reported that the legislation doubles the national special-loans ceiling to $5 billion.
The higher borrowing ceiling enables the proposed $1.2 billion debt swap, according to the reporting. Barbados Today and CBC Barbados reported that the transaction is expected to free approximately $320 million for investment in chronic disease, mental health and childhood obesity.
At the level described in the available reporting, the debt-for-health arrangement is a refinancing structure designed to redirect savings toward specified health priorities. The named areas are non-communicable, or chronic, diseases, mental health and childhood obesity.
The House’s approval establishes the legislative step reported by Barbados Today, while the higher $5 billion ceiling provides the borrowing capacity reported by CBC Barbados as necessary for the proposed transaction.
The available reporting does not include the vote count in the House of Assembly or an opposition reaction to the legislation. It also does not identify the debt swap’s counterparty, set out the terms of the transaction or provide a timeline for when the swap will be completed.
Those details therefore remain unestablished in the reporting available.
— Maya Wilson, World Desk
Maya Wilson leads The Library Media’s World Desk and serves as the house’s intelligence lead.
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