OPPOSITION Leader Philip 'Brave' Davis speaks to the media.
By SANCHESKA DORSETT
Tribune Staff Reporter
Sdorsett@tribunemedia.net
OPPOSITION Leader Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday blamed Hurricane Matthew, a shortfall in income revenue and a reduction in taxes for a $400m overrun in the country’s GFS deficit.
The GFS deficit at the end of June is projected at $500m, according to Minister of Finance K Peter Turnquest, five times the $100m forecast by the Progressive Liberal Party government, which was voted out of office on May 10.
Mr Davis also criticised the Free National Movement (FNM) for planning to borrow an “unprecedented” $723m - which covers a period of two fiscal years.
He accused the FNM of providing “a false narrative” to cover for the fact that “they cannot live up to what they promised in the general election”.
He said the FNM made “wild promises based on a lack of understanding of the economy” and now that they are in the government they have to face the reality.
The former deputy prime minister also denied that the PLP made “deals” months, weeks or days before the general election.
He said the budget communication in the House of Assembly was “disappointing” and offered “no hope for the future.”
“Let us look at some specifics that they provided,” Mr Davis said during a press conference yesterday. “The comment on the out turn to $500 million, the minister answered his own point as to why the prediction of the PLP on the deficit was off target. The hurricane was responsible for it by his own statement. It is not mismanagement at all. He said the combination of increased expenditure to fix the public infrastructure and repair homes as well as reducing the taxes caused the increase,” Mr Davis said.
“Their own projections this year can similarly be impacted by one hurricane. We take grave exception to the issue of expenditure in the run up to the general election as ‘deals’. There are no deals but expenditure in the public interest . . . The fact that contracts were signed before the election, I am sure if they were to examine the process, they may have recognised that the majority of those contracts would’ve been in the making a year or two years and it just so happens that they did not culminate until that time because of the long process and the bureaucracy. If they examine that, I think they would find that the contracts would have been in train for at least two to three years.”
Mr Davis said when you look “dispassionately at the budget statement,” you will discover that the statement is an “admission” that the fundamentals of our economy were prudently managed and a solid foundation laid for growth.
“This is evidenced amongst other things by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that predicts that this year the economy will grow by 1.4 per cent and will be followed by a 2.2 per cent growth in 2018,” Mr Davis said.
“Indeed the government itself is predicting 3.3 per cent growth for next year, which must be a testament to the prudent management of the PLP government. In the government’s efforts to make political points, the Free National Movement has to be very careful not to talk down this economy to the harm of the national interest. The budget statement appears to do just that. A responsible government must outline the facts as they are but must always give a people hope that there are better days are ahead.”
Mr Davis urged the government to be “extremely careful” with cutting government spending before to ensure “that they do not make the last state worse than the first.”
“The fact is the government is the largest spender in this economy. If the government contracts its spending, then the economy of this country gets into deep trouble. We again say to the government be very careful,” Mr Davis said.
The Cat Island and San Salvador MP said he also noticed all the “talk about eliminating value added tax” had not included VAT reductions in the Budget. The House of Assembly will debate the budget next Wednesday.
Comments
Tarzan 7 years, 5 months ago
Oh, and Brave forgot: "The dog eat my homework."
SP 7 years, 5 months ago
WOW....They went from running the country to that little small opposition members office overnight!!
GOD and Karma have a serious sense of humor....& Dey not finding it funny!
kairosmatt 7 years, 5 months ago
Coward Davis says: "The fact is the government is the largest spender in this economy."
Seriously? That is not an economy!! That is why we are trouble in the first place.
Plus Coward Davis stole most of the tax revenue too.
proudloudandfnm 7 years, 5 months ago
I can tell the Bahamas one thing for sure..
None of that hurricane money was spent on Freeport...
Brave is full of it...
banker 7 years, 5 months ago
Interesting body language here. Notice the grouping of people. There are four that are tightly grouped, and one that isn't. In spite of occupying the same type of chair and sitting in a reciprocal but similar position to Glennys, Fred is distancing himself. Note the way he crosses the leg. In body language psychology, he is shutting them out of his personal sphere. Nobody is happy in the crowd. Look at Fred's hand, I copied this right out of Psyc 101:
The mouth guard is one of the few adult gestures that is as obvious as a child's. The hand covers the mouth and the thumb is pressed against the cheek as the brain sub-consciously instructs it to try and suppress the deceitful words that are being said. Sometimes this gesture may only be several fingers over the mouth or even a closed fist, but its meaning remains the same. If the person who is speaking uses this gesture, it indicates that he is telling a lie. If, however, he covers his mouth while another person is speaking, it indicates that he feels they are lying!
Interesting thought: Will Fred actually try to run for head of the PLP? If would help if he were a parliamentarian instead of a senator, but he is an ambitious person.
I'd love to have the big honking remote control on the table.
licks2 7 years, 5 months ago
You should look at Mr. Cooper get a gander of him. . .towing over the rest. . .maintaining a stiff backed posture. . .telegraphing that he is the leader there and een have nothing to do with the stuff coming out of them to the public! There rest are looking like "this man ca lie nah"!
banker 7 years, 5 months ago
I am still in mourning over Chester joining the PLP. I thought highly of him, and I thought that he was smart.
Picewell is just a slobbering gorilla in this pic. I am blown away that he got elected. He must have spent a pretty penny buying this elec..... oh never mind.
sheeprunner12 7 years, 5 months ago
Brave here is your answer .......... $100 million to Bahamasair ......... $100 Million to BOB bad debt ............ $100 Million to BAMSI ............ $150 Million to Hurricane relief ...... $50 Million to Urban Renewal ............ $ 30 Million to Carnival ........ $20 Million to the Dump........ $ 100 Million to BPL ............ and the rest to their PLP friends, families and lovers in no-bid contracts
OMG 7 years, 5 months ago
Sheeprunner, maybe you should put this accurate information on picture cards like they do for Trump, because they are so incompetent that they couldn't get drunk in a free liquor store. They used the VAT money like a free money pot with no thought to the national debt or any potential national disaster and now the FNM has to try and salvage the situation. There should always have been a disaster fund set aside, but there again "its easy to piss away money " so says Christie.
Alex_Charles 7 years, 5 months ago
Just form another Resolve Bahamas, it'll sort itself out after that. The new administration will not be able to turn this shit show around.
Perrynomics
SP 7 years, 5 months ago
Picewell Forbes looks as intelligent as he always does.Only Alfred Gray could look worse Lol!
Pillage Loot Plunder is T-O-T-A-L-L-Y D-O-N-E!
Perry Christie is already pretending to be "nuts" to avoid going to prison, but prison is the safest place for someone that committed treason and is a danger to society.
Its the peoples time! The Sunshine boys are running scared....Rightfully so!
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 5 months ago
If the opposition wants to be taken seriously they need to change their approach. The minute I hear "Matthew cause it", I even een listening anymore, I'm not even going to waste time reading the story, cause it can't make any sense. There's a lot to criticize the new administration for, yes it's only been two days, but they're looking a little scattered to me....they have to up their "strategery" a bit. I'm really anxious to have an idea of their approach (not the full plan, just the approach they'll take) to eliminating corruption, graft, bribery, extortion etc. also the big plan for retraining human resources and I mean BIG plan, not teaching someone how to say good morning and thank you.
sheeprunner12 7 years, 5 months ago
The PLP with Davis, Mitchell, Hanna-Martin, & Forbes will not turn it around ......... It will take Cooper and his generation to root out the Pingdomites.
Other than that .......... Bahamians should exile the PLP for the next twenty years
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