The Tribune

IF the importance of today’s Budget was lost on anyone, the estimate by Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson that half the country’s workforce is unemployed ought to concentrate minds.

That’s the first time the number has been estimated so high – though Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar had previously said the rate was around 30 percent shortly after the outbreak led to the closure of hotels.

The National Insurance Board was working briskly yesterday at the national stadium to deal with lines of customers – serving more than 900 people within three hours as people sought assistance. Many have been waiting for weeks to get unemployment assistance, so it is good to see staff dealing with people so quickly yesterday. Long may that continue.

There was more talk too of restricting work permits – and while redundancies may have led to people with experience becoming available for posts currently filled by permit holders, this still feels like a distraction. Businesses don’t want to spend extra money on work permits if they don’t have to – and we hope employers won’t be deprived of the workers they need to grow the business, bringing more jobs for locals in that fashion.

But today, as Finance Minister Peter Turnquest details his Budget, it will be a crucial moment for The Bahamas. Revenues have been down, and high unemployment means less income for the government and more expenditure for those in need.

Mr Turnquest has given himself some breathing room by seeking a $252m loan from the IMF, and arranging some leeway on repayments might add to that. The effects of COVID-19 will be long-lasting around the globe, but if a short-term bridge can get us to when the country is open again and when revenues are back on the rise, that will put us in a different economic landscape to the one we’re in right now.

Ultimately, the answer has to be to get the country working again, with people earning salaries, paying their VAT and import duties, and running an economy that is working rather than one at a standstill.

Increasing taxation will only get us so far if half the nation is out of work.

When Mr Turnquest speaks today, he needs to speak to the accuracy of that 50 percent unemployment rate – we need to know where we are if we are to understand how to go forward from here. Understanding that will give us a much clearer idea of why he is making the decisions he is in his Budget. There is no political blame for an unemployment rate brought on by a global pandemic – so let’s be clear and transparent about our game plan for getting out of this.

Put plans in place now

What will the country look like when it opens its borders?

We ask because Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar has revealed that officials are still working out what the protocols will be that people have to follow to gain entry.

Will our restaurants be at full capacity, or with limitations to ensure spacing? How will the airport handle everything from luggage pick-up to spacing at Customs? What will be the differences for employees in hotels and casinos?

These are the things we need to be working out now, not at the point we open the borders. If half the country is unemployed, making a success of reopening is going to be our most important task. Let’s get it right now, so we don’t have problems later.