The Tribune

By SYANN THOMPSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

sthompson@tribunemedia.net

OPPOSITION spokesman for finance Chester Cooper estimates that the government may be $400 million below its revenue targets this year.

Mr Cooper, Progressive Liberal Party deputy leader, issued the opposition’s statement last night in response to the government’s Fiscal Strategy Report tabled in Parliament this week by Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest.

The MP for the Exumas and Ragged Island argued that if in 2018, the government was $230 million below its revenue target without Hurricane Dorian’s impact, this year he estimates there would be a greater shortfall. Mr Cooper is also not convinced that the report gives an accurate indication of the government’s coffers.

“We also don’t believe this report includes a credible estimate of revenue collection, even with the Dorian adjustment. Last year, revenue was over $230 million below target without any hurricane impacting the Bahamas. In the first quarter of this fiscal year, revenue performance was not significantly different from last year,” Mr Cooper said.

According to Mr Cooper, the government’s policies and mismanagement are more “likely to inflict pain on the Bahamian people”. While the PLP’s shadow finance minister stated that the devastation of Hurricane Dorian and the detrimental impact on government revenue and expenditure cannot be denied, the Fiscal Strategy Report was sorely lacking.

“Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest has failed miserably in trying to put a happy face on what was one of the bleakest statements on the government’s fiscal position that we have ever heard…but based on the prime minister’s own characterization, what we see is a lazy government lacking innovation that once again retreats to the pure madness of borrowing and taxation,” he said.

Mr Cooper is also critical of the government’s focus on “managing deficits rather than improving the cost of living and fostering economic growth”. He said the government’s Fiscal Strategy Report is missing two areas of major impact to the Bahamian people.

He said: “We note that there appears to be two major omissions – firstly, there is no mention of the fiscal or economic impact of the pending electricity rate reduction bond. The impact of an electricity increase would likely reduce local consumption, which would reduce revenue while increasing what the government itself spends on electricity. Secondly, where does the report speak to the costs of this new potential borrowing given that it intends to raise $500 million to bolster government coffers and another $650 million to bail out BPL from the market at the same time? From whom will this money be borrowed and at what rate?”

The government’s Fiscal Strategy Report tabled in the House of Assembly this week shows that the nine-figure deficit will continue for the next five years. Despite the national debt soaring to 1.3 billion in five years, the deputy prime minister said this week that tourism arrivals partnered with foreign direct investment remains “on track” and will allow the country to shrug off Dorian’s devastating impact. He added to this that the economy will expand by 2.1 percent in 2021.