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Se­nior econ­o­mist and head of the De­part­ment of Eco­nom­ics at UWI St Au­gus­tine, Dr Daren Con­rad is cau­tion­ing that re­cent back­pay dis­burse­ments to pub­lic-sec­tor work­ers are un­like­ly to de­liv­er the eco­nom­ic up­lift many an­tic­i­pat­ed, cit­ing shaky con­sumer con­fi­dence, labour mar­ket dis­tor­tions, and wors­en­ing glob­al con­di­tions.

Speak­ing dur­ing a sem­i­nar ti­tled, "The Im­pact of Back­pay Promis­es on the Macro­econ­o­my" host­ed by UWI Trade and Eco­nom­ics De­part­ment which took place on Mon­day evening, Con­rad said al­though back­pay typ­i­cal­ly in­jects short-term liq­uid­i­ty in­to the econ­o­my, the cur­rent cli­mate of un­cer­tain­ty has mut­ed its im­pact.

"De­spite the back­pay, with high de­grees of un­cer­tain­ty about the fu­ture or low ex­pec­ta­tions, there will not be much im­pact at the macro­eco­nom­ic lev­el.