PRIME MINISTER Perry Christie warned senior public servants the Bahamas is in one of the most difficult and challenging economic periods in its history.
Speaking at the Ministry of Finance's budget symposium at the Sheraton Cable Beach on Wednesday, Mr Christie reminded Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Department about the importance of their role in keeping the country moving forward.
He said: "I am here to bring directly to you the very important roles that you not only play but that you should play with the efficient and effective management of revenue and expenditure."
The Prime Minister warned that it will cost money for the government to introduce its new initiatives to maintain law and order - the two major challenges facing the country besides unemployment.
"Therefore, as you administer your own ministries, you must know for us to succeed, today the expenditure outstrips the revenue of this country.
"We must therefore necessarily work towards balancing the recurrent budget of our country."
During the budget debate Mr Christie spoke about being optimistic that there can be a turn-around in the economy.
"We are the closest off-shore sun destination to the United States of America and therefore from a policy point of view, we must make the decision that the fastest and most effective way to create jobs is still tourism," he said.
He said the tourism numbers for the country's competitors in the region have been improving despite the recession.
"Therefore, resources must be dedicated to promoting investment opportunities, to promoting tourists coming to our country."
The Prime Minister said the country is "outstanding in the fact" that most of the millions of dollars made from tourism leak back out.
He said resources must be dedicated to establishing linkages with the tourism industry, especially in the areas of agriculture and fisheries.
"We have to have the will to know that we have to put the money behind it and we have give the incentives for people to get behind it," he said.
Comments
TruthSeeker 12 years, 4 months ago
Let me guess, " The Toughest Economic Times" has only emerged in The Bahamas since May 7th.
242352 12 years, 4 months ago
he needs to clip 'Fly Away Fred's' wings then,
or at least make his boy toy fly coach!
concernedcitizen 12 years, 4 months ago
FREDDIE DON PLAY ,HES A DASHING WORLD WIDE TRAVELLER AND YOU KNOW WHEN YOU GOING TO BRAZIL TO SOLVE GOBAL WARMING ,,YOU NEED ALL THAT ROOM IN FIRST CLASS TO WORK ,,THE FUNNIEST THING THEY DON,T GIVE A SH###T ONCE THEY GOT BACK IN POWER THEY THREW A NANNY NANNY BOO BOO AT THE PEOPLE AND SAID LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
concernedcitizen 12 years, 4 months ago
THERE WE GO WITH THE FARMING AGAIN ,,YOU TRY AND GET THEM SWEET SMELLING BOYS COMING OUT OF SCHOOL TO GO FARM ,,AND ON FISHERIES ,,I,M A FISHERMAN ,THERES NOT FISH OUT THERE LIKE BEFORE ,AND YOU CAN,T TAKE DUDES OFF THE LAND AND MAKE THEM SEAMEN ,,THE SEA GOT TO BE IN YOUR BLOOD
spoitier 12 years, 4 months ago
Use the criminals for farming.
concernedcitizen 12 years, 4 months ago
GOOD IDEA !!!!!!!!!!!
Concerned 12 years, 4 months ago
Great idea. But sadly we will need to be a nation with non-partisan vision in order to make something as obvious as this a reality.
jasoncooper456 12 years, 4 months ago
Oh boy Oh boy not even sure where to start so I'll be brief. We are in a crisis because our main industry is tourism so why invest MORE into that industry? It will not work, we may be the closest to Florida but that doesn't mean much when American tourist aren't spending money. Why on earth would you spend money we can't afford to spend on OTHER people besides ourselves? Not like everyone lives in tourists areas or works in that industry, we have to expand our portfolio, and CUT spending. How do you expect to "balance" the budget by spending majority of the money on tourism which everyone isn't going to do, and no way going to provide enough jobs to keep the quality of life up. What about the other islands? What are they going to do? Tourism isn't exactly their main focus. Just leaving them out to hang? Agriculture and fisheries must be dedicated to tourism? WHY? Why not have them farm and catch fish to be sold within the country and have a certain percentage exported to Florida? (since we are so close) and there is a HUGE market for fish and produce in South Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, etc. I really don't know what Perry is thinking.....It has been proven Tourism is not a reliable source of main income, and when the American economy collapses again (which it will always does) then what? We have no backup because we blew it all on tourism. Point is expand the portfolio, cut government spending, and establish our other industries to be more prominent. My Blog: http://tis242.blogspot.com/
Concerned 12 years, 4 months ago
Because Jason, those are all obvious solutions and there is no glory in the obvious. We prefer to be donkeys running around the same bush over and over again, looking for handouts. If Sir Stafford Sands and Sir Lynden said that tourism is the Bahamas' priority then nothing can change. We are forever bound to look to the rich, white foreigner for our survival.
concernedcitizen 12 years, 4 months ago
I AM A FISHERMAN ,THERE IS NOT SOME GREAT ABUNDANCE OF FISH OUT THERE ,,WE HAVE A SUBSTAINABLE FISHERIES IF WE DON,T OVERBURDEN IT ,,AS FOR THE HUGE MARKET FOR PRODUCE IN FLORIDA ETC ,,THEY GROW THERE OWN , A QUATER OF FLORIDA IS AGRICULTURE ,,PLUS YOU CAN,T MAKE SEAMEN IT HAS TO BE IN THEIR BLOOD ,,,
sburrows 12 years, 4 months ago
The world economy's bottom fell out in 2008! We're just now honestly feeling the effect of it...tell Perry to tell us something we DON'T know! After blaming Hubey Ingraham for the state of the world's affair's, he (Perry) wants to come to us with his great revelation! Dawg, we don't want to hear what we already know...stop makin' ya beautiful speeches and hurry put in place legislation that will make it much easier for the private sector to create employment!
CollegeKid 12 years, 4 months ago
Prior to May 7, Mr. Ingraham ran the Bahamian economy thru the muck. After May 7, the global recession ran the Bahamian economy thru the muck. Mr. Christie really irks my nerves, becuz if HIS party was unable to take advantage of the manyyyyy opportunities available to them during their last term in office while the economy was booooming, then how dare they bash Mr. Ingraham's administration for doing the best that they could whilst the financial systems around the world were collapsing??!! Give me a break...if they were busy analyzing what was goin on, and formulating strategies to pull our economy thru these rough times as opposed to run around yapppin at the mouth, then their 100 day plan would've been more of a REALITY.............. too much lawyers runnin this country. We need some economists!!!!!!!!!!!
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