The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the Davis administration is too optimistic in its budget projections.

“(We) also say that as we sat this morning one of the things we recognise that is true is that this government continues to have overly... actually optimistic projections on revenue. We believe that they are wrong in terms of the kinds of projections that they are making,” he said yesterday, shortly after Prime Minister Philip Davis’ mid-year budget communication in Parliament.

“We refer to a few things - one, the Prime Minister himself indicated that a part of what he believes will spur the growth to provide the revenue that he has in mind would be small business development, that has been the tradition.

“This administration has failed to live up to what happened under the previous administration in providing support and credit to the small and medium sized business sector.”

He said the government has “unleashed burdens” on the business sector such as the red tape required to get a business licence.

The increase in electricity costs was also noted.

“The prime minister went to great lengths to outline what the expected growth rate would be in the international market. What he failed to disclose to the Bahamian people is that it’s clearly been stated that we expect a reduction in the overall growth rate, economic growth rate in countries around the world in 2023, certainly in 2024.

“The Prime Minister has projected that in 2024, as well as 2025, he expects somewhere in the order of four percent plus in terms of economic growth while the IMF who he has quoted as projected that in many ways we will return to normal trends in economic growth. So certainly the Prime Minister, in my view, is stating figures that he knows that historically we have not grown at that level and the headwinds that are ahead of us are likely to have an impact on our ability to grow.”

He also criticised Mr Davis’ refusal to be frank about a possible increase in National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions.

State Minister Myles Laroda with responsibility for NIB previously said that the government made a decision concerning the future of the NIB fund, and it will soon announce its decision on whether NIB contribution rates will increase or not.

Mr Pintard wondered if decisions for major entities were considered in the economic outlook.

He added: “Instead, he talks about the increase in VAT receipts and not calculating the fact that inflation has helped to elevate the VAT increases, and that is on the backs of Bahamians, who are burdened with these increased prices. So, in our view, he is not telling the entire story.”

The Marco City MP highlighted issues with transparency.

“One would notice that the prime minister has really made a veiled reference to the debt management strategy that he has. At the end of the day, our options for growth and prosperity in The Bahamas is limited by the amount of money we are spending, the amount of revenue we’re taking to service our debt.

“We were on a pathway under the last administration to make sure that we carefully managed our debt. We reported to the Bahamian people in a timely fashion and benefited from feedback. This government is not committed to that kind of transparency and not just in terms of the debt management.

“Before I leave that point, let me say, the prime minister was absolutely wrong not to disclose to the Parliament how much money he and his administration is paying to Rothschild that’s assisting him with the debt management. What are they trying to hide? What is the big secret about not revealing how public money is being spent to a firm to help us address our fiscal challenges in the country?”

Asked his thoughts for the revenue targets outlined in Parliament, Mr Pintard said there are headwinds not being considered.

“We would hope that economic growth continues. The economy, obviously, has rebounded much faster than expected by a number of persons and this has nothing to do with efforts made by this administration. There was pent up demand in the market and when we were in government we obviously set the country on a clear pathway to economic recovery,” he said.

“So the prime minister has not sufficiently taken into consideration the headwinds that he and his administration and the country will face, that’s one thing that can have a negative impact on those overly optimistic projections. Secondly, the reforms that are required, he is not committed to those.”