The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The government's fiscal deficit was more than $100m below the full-year 2017-2018 target with just one month to go, the Central Bank of The Bahamas revealed yesterday.

The regulator's June economic developments report disclosed that the deficit for the 11 months to end-May 2018 was some $211.9m, an $87.5m or 29.2 percent decline compared to prior year figures that were impacted by the fall-out from Hurricane Matthew.

The Central Bank noted that, with just over four weeks left in the fiscal year, the deficit - which measures how much government spending exceeds its income on an annual basis - was equivalent to 65.9 percent, or two-thirds, of the full-year's $321.3m projection.

KP Turnquest, deputy prime minister, announced in the 2018-2019 budget communication that while the prior year's deficit was likely to be less than forecast it was set to come in at around $310m.

That represents a much smaller improvement than that indicated over the first 11 months, and suggests - based on Central Bank figures - that the deficit increased by almost $100m during the last month of the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

The $100m gulf between the 11-month position shown by the Central Bank and Mr Turnquest's year-end deficit estimate is likely to fuel further opposition charges that the government is switching between cash-based and accrual accounting methods to suit its own interests. This is something the deputy prime minister has denied.

"During the [first] 11 months of fiscal year 2017-2018, the deficit on the government's operations narrowed by $87.5m (29.2 percent) to $211.9m in comparison to the prior year, underpinned by a $59.8m (2.8 percent) decline in expenditure to $2.059bn and a $27.7m (1.5 percent) rise in revenue to $1.847bn," the Central Bank said.

"As at end May, the deficit represented approximately 65.9 percent of the projected budgetary gap of $321.3m for fiscal year 2017-2018. Underlying this development, expenditure was 83.7 percent of the forecasted $2.46bn, with 85.3 percent of budgeted recurrent outflows expended, while only 67.3 percent of the amount allotted for capital spending was disbursed.