|
|
|
|
Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
 The budget delivered in the House of Assembly today by the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Perry G. Christie, yet again earmarks nothing for alleviating pressures for every day Bahamians and certainly does not give us hope for the future. This slap-dash budget exemplifies confusion and mismanagement that one can seriously call lack of leadership, sincere oversight and over-shot projections.
During the mid-term budget presented in March of this year, the prime minister blamed a muted global economic recovery for his administration’s failures even though the American economy is stronger than ever, knowing full well a buoyant American economy means better for us. The DNA has responded to this and we stand on our earlier statements that this economy should be performing much better than it has been over the last 3 years.
Knowing full well the US employment rate bodes well for our tourist arrivals and overall tourism product, this administration really should do better with regard to telling the Bahamian people what’s best for them in this budget considering what we all know to be self-evident.
Wasteful Spending is out of control and this fact now gives us in the DNA the notion that this government cannot control itself to any extent and at any level. The Central Bank forecasted before this budget communication that the government had added nearly $1.6 billion in debt on the backs of Bahamians, even in the face of VAT receipts.
Further, with this budget communication by this administration, we were waiting patiently on the Minister for Finance to explain the deficit forecast that the Central Bank announced late last month with regard to it being $100 million off target. We now understand what will happen, and that is, the government has planned to borrow some $90 million plus dollars to pad this and smooth its finances. This $90 million is what the Minister for Finance admits to, but certainly the figures need to be reconciled with the Central Bank and International Monetary Fund estimates to give us a better understanding on how our commitments will be met.
The cruel and alarming paradox is that they are also defaulting on legitimate claims to vendors and business persons doing business with the government, so we have to ask where this deficit spending and high debt accumulation is going and who is it being spent with? Also, a cruel and alarming paradox was that on the one hand the National Insurance Board (NIB) Fund was being boasted by the Minister responsible for the fund, Shane Gibson, for spending over $2 million in unemployment benefits for persons affected by this administration’s bungling of Baha-Mar. But at the same time reports have it that NIB’s system were down and printed cheques had not been made available for several weeks to persons with short term benefits like unemployment, paternity and the like.
The NIB had since made a public apology and sought to have it corrected immediately, but the fact remains that money is being announced to have been spent and the systems to deliver this money were having challenges for several weeks. Confusion at its highest levels, and persons that this administration claims to be helping they simply are not helping in the way it has been promised or envisaged.
What we have seen here with these three examples, right from the top of this end of year budget: A lack of sound leadership overall; a lack of sincere oversight with our revenue generating areas and disbursement agencies through virtue of the NIB; and overshot projections that we do not believe will be bolstered by final projections by the IMF and Central Bank, we know that this is most likely the last budget communication by this PLP administration.
This is just the DNA’s start to the analysis of this budget. While Opposition Leader, Dr. Hubert Minnis, in the FNM imagined it being hopeful and is willing to cheer on his supposed opponents, and the Chamber of Commerce President going on record saying that this would be a “responsible” budget, we beg to differ seriously on this in a most professionally respectful manner. Anyone living in The Bahamas knows that this is not the way things are supposed to be. No way, no how!
Youri Kemp
DNA Candidate Garden Hills
DNA Spokesperson for the Economy and Finance
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
