Barbados to introduce national digital identification system

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados is working towards introducing a national digital identification, which could be rolled out over the next six months.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley made the disclosure on Wednesday as she spoke about the delivery economy, which has emerged significantly with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The delivery economy is right now with us and we only need to nurture it. For decades, the supermarkets were trying to do it, they never got anywhere; banks were trying to do it, they didn’t get any buy-in; and all of a sudden, everybody now realises contactless commerce is here and needs to be exploited,” said Mottley.

She was speaking at a webinar hosted by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States titled ‘Business Unusual:  Recalibrating Business and National Strategies for Economic Growth and Investment Creation’.

Mottley continued: “So that not only matters pertaining to food, but the delivery of pension cheques from our social security agencies will be a thing of the past. That we can literally have welfare benefits and child maintenance benefits and all of these things ultimately loaded on to a phone or card … . We are now moving, in our own case in Barbados, to the national digital ID, which, hopefully, will be rolled out over the course of the next six months.”

The prime minister also expressed the view that the region must protect the health of its citizens and its visitors in this COVID-19 environment.

She opined that the region must exploit its good track record in public health during this crisis, noting that over the years, the region had produced public health giants who made a difference regionally and globally.

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