Statement By Hon. Philip Brave Davis
2019 Budget Communication Is A Communication
The 2019 Budget Communication of the Minister of Finance unfortunately continues a clear pattern of this Government of mis-stating facts, falsifying statistics and just plain lying to Bahamian citizens and to those who purchase and rate Bahamian Government debt.
We know that the Minister of Finance has placed himself under great pressure to deliver an unrealistic deficit reduction programme. We know that his 60% VAT increase has only increased total revenues by 16% up to March 2019, but yet the Minister still chooses to stand in Parliament and tell a bold faced lie about fiscal performance when the data is readily available to refute his projections.
The Minister expects for the Bahamian public, the financial institutions which extend loans to the Government, the ratings agencies which rate our external bonds and the Parliamentarians who must debate this budget, to believe that in the months of April, May and June the current fiscal year, the Bahamas Government would collect 42% of its annual revenue!
This lie, if allowed to go unchallenged, would make The Bahamas and its citizens the laughingstock of the financial world. The Minister if he has any shame would seek to correct this figure immediately and provide us with the truth.
No lie lasts for ever!
