The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The deputy prime minister yesterday slammed the opposition's "hypocrisy" for criticising the projected $1.3bn fiscal deficit for 2020-2021 when it had called for some $2bn worth of borrowing just weeks before.

K Peter Turnquest, leading off the Budget debate in the House of Assembly, slammed his opposition "shadow" by saying: "It was the opposition - through their spokesman for finance - that recommended a $2bn deficit as the appropriate response to COVID-19 in the first place. Although we did not agree with the opposition's outer number, we agreed with the premise: Unprecedented times call for an unprecedented budget."

Chester Cooper, pictured, the opposition's deputy leader and finance spokesman, immediately intervened by arguing that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) had never called for a $2bn deficit in response to COVID-19's fiscal and economic challenges.

"He received a comprehensive copy of the plan that never called for a $2bn deficit," Mr Cooper said of his party's recommendations. "The plan called for a $1.2bn stimulus. We invited the minister to go out and borrow early at low rates and, if the crisis was short, pay back some of the money, paying down some of the high interest loans. He is misleading, he is intentionally doing so, and I am quite frankly disappointed that he would do so."

In a Zoom conference in early April, in which Mr Cooper unveiled his party's plan, he said the government would likely need to source between $1bn and $2bn of new borrowings to keep the government afloat. He also suggested the government should issue more than $1bn worth of bonds during the next fiscal year that should be labelled "COVID-19 relief bonds".

Mr Cooper also told Parliament at the end of March that the government should "identify borrowing facilities in the area of $1bn to $2bn in this low interest environment in order to shore up the economy".

He added: "The government should take $250m and invest immediately in real food security. BAMSI (Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute) is a good model, but Andros is primed for growth in this area and others. The government should take $200m and make it available in grants and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. The current allocation is simply not enough."

Mr Turnquest responded yesterday: "While we did not agree with the opposition's numbers, we agreed with the premise. Unprecedented times calls for unprecedented budgets." Mr Cooper, sticking to his position, responded: "The member had the comprehensive plan, which I just explained.

"I don't want to have to do this over and over and repeatedly. The member for East Grand Bahama [Mr Turnquest] reads very well. He received a comprehensive copy of the plan before it was released to the public and he is going down the road again. He is misleading and is intentionally doing so.

"The member agrees with us that countercyclical spending and unprecedented budgets are necessary to address these challenging times. That's the only point I wanted to make."