The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE government’s fiscal deficit actually decreased by $5.3m in the first half of the fiscal year when compared to the same period in the previous year, Prime Minister Phillip Davis clarified in the House of Assembly yesterday.

He conceded that his comments last week on the deficit were not accurate.

In his mid-year budget communication last Wednesday, Mr Davis told the House of Assembly that revenue collections were up but also noted that the government experienced a net deficit of $285.7m, which represented an increase of $7.8m compared to the previous period.

The revelation made headlines in the local dailies.

But during his contribution in the House of Assembly yesterday, Mr Davis singled out the Nassau Guardian and said its headline, which stated “Revenue Rises but Deficit Up” was not accurate. However when he was later reminded by East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson that his speech last week contained the figure about the reported deficit increase, Mr Davis then admitted that his speechwriters made an error when writing the figures in his speech.

“Madam Speaker: here are the facts, Madam Speaker, the government’s fiscal deficit for the first half of the fiscal year decreased by $5.3 million when compared to the previous year,” the Prime Minister said. “It decreased and not increased. Just look at the numbers.

“You see the deficit totaled $276 million for the first six months of this fiscal year compared to $281.3 million in the prior year. I’ll go a little further if you want to measure fiscal prudence and management.

 “For the first half of this fiscal year, there’s something called the primary balance and that speaks to if you have to borrow money and pay the interest on monies that were borrowed when your interest is due to be paid and you don’t have the money from your actual revenue to pay it then you have to go look to borrow to pay it. That is called your primary balance.”

 He added: “So, these are some of the indicators you look at if you want to understand the fiscal element of the country so let me say in fact for the first half of this fiscal year, the primary balance reflected a surplus equating $4.9 million, a major variance from the primary deficit of the previous year which was $41.2 million.

“So, this primary surplus, Madam Speaker, is the first in a very long time and when you analyse over 10 years’ worth of data, it is evident that the government had reoccurring primary deficits each year for the same time period.

“Just look at the numbers.”

 However, Mr Thompson, Shadow Minister of Finance, later pointed out to Mr Davis that the article in question was just quoting the figures provided in his speech.

 To this, the Prime Minister responded: “The figures numbers speak for themselves. Everyone can see. That was a misspeak by the writers. That’s why I made it a point to correct it. What I said today is correct.”

 Mr Davis also said last week that revenue collections were up by $111.5m when compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year.

 He attributed this yesterday to “a vibrant, rebounding economy and strengthened collection efforts.”

 Prime Minister Davis again insisted that he believed the country was on the right track under his administration’s watch and said the 2022/24 budget laid down a solid foundation for change.