The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney yesterday criticised the government’s 2015/2016 fiscal plan insisting that it takes only “minor steps in the right direction” but “failed to honestly address the key issues plaguing our economy.”

In a press release, Mr McCartney accused the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) of employing a series of smoke and mirror tactics to detract from inadequate fiscal policies and not addressing the many promises made in the 2014/2015 budget debate that he said, “simply never materialised.”

Mr McCartney warned that for a second, consecutive year the government has ignored projections made by the Central Bank and estimated a 2.3 per cent – 2.8 per cent growth range. The Central Bank has projected a 0.9 per cent growth range for the entire year of 2015.

He explained that during the 2014/2015 budget, initial growth forecasts laid out by the government were projected at 2.8 per cent, then adjusted to 2.3 per cent, however concluded at 1.9 per cent as predicted by the Central Bank of the Bahamas.

“Further on the issue of economic growth, the government’s budget raises questions about exactly which sectors of the country are growing. Outside of modest growth driven by US tourism, the government’s growth projections have little to do with any substantial investment by this administration. While the country did in fact record minor growth, the question is whom did the Bahamas grow for and did we benefit overall? The short answer is no,” stressed the former Bamboo Town MP.

“The government has included a $100m bond for housing that starts in this budget. Their previous budget included allocations for a similar plan initially billed as a public private sector partnership arrangement that would work in conjunction with wider mortgage relief initiatives. As scores of homeowners are painfully aware however, all of this administration’s efforts at mortgage relief have failed.”

Referring to the PLP’s 2014/2015 budget, Mr McCartney said that despite the Christie administration’s failure to complete a number of key elements on its previous fiscal plan, the government has made a whole new crop of promises, some of which received funding before the new budget was finalised.

“The revenue enhancement facility for the Road Traffic Department that was not a part of last year’s budget, neither was it mentioned in the batch of revenue enhancement measures. Just a few weeks ago however, a multi-million dollar contract was awarded to facilitate that work,” said Mr McCartney.

Mr McCartney argued that this year’s budget is filled with countless shortfalls, inflated and unsubstantiated data and promises from the last budget that were never fulfilled.

“Last year’s budget communication promised the introduction of a Central Revenue Agency and ongoing Customs reforms which had been slated for a 2014 completion date. That, however, has not happened. Enhancement to real property tax laws announced in last year’s budget has also not materialised.”

He went on to suggest that many of the government’s growth prospects are threatened by issues surrounding the $3.5 billion Baha Mar mega resort, illegal immigration, crime, growing unemployment, cronyism, corruption and lack of participation by larger firms in the local economy. He added that just recently the United States urged this Christie administration for the second time in the last 12 months to be more transparent and accountable in its dealings with foreign investors.

In its 2015 Investment Climate report on the Bahamas, the US State Department warned potential investors of “significant challenges” in doing business in the country. The report hinged on concerns over the government’s various procurement and tendering processes.

However, Mr McCartney said that members of the Christie administration to this point have attempted to defend “what can only be described as the latest effort to fudge the numbers and pull the wool over the eyes of the Bahamian people.”

“This must end,” he added.