The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis commended his administration’s fiscal performance compared to that of the former administration’s pre-pandemic levels, telling the Opposition: “There is a reason why we are here and you there.”

Mr Davis, also the Minister of Finance, closed out the mid-year budget debate yesterday at Parliament. He said that his administration has “successfully lowered the debt-to-GDP ratio from over 100 percent” as it was under the previous administration to just over 80 percent.

With a goal of getting debt-to-GDP ratio levels to 65 percent by the 2026/2027 fiscal year, Mr Davis said his administration has delivered on its promises.

“We expect to see increased revenues and disciplined expenditures as we work toward our goal of a 25 percent revenue-to-GDP ratio, fueled primarily by increased efficiency and fairness in tax collection and a booming economy,” he said.

 “Already, we are seeing the fruits of our strategic approach to fiscal management come to bear, as we have successfully lowered the debt-to-GDP ratio from over 100 percent under the previous administration to just over 80 percent,” Mr Davis said.

 “We expect continued decreases, as we seek to take it all the way down to 65 percent by the 2026/2027 fiscal year. The country’s fiscal performance is finally improving, after years of missed targets and broken promises,” he said.

 Mr Davis added that the budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year will be presented to Parliament in less than two months.

 “On the 31st of May 2023, I will return to this House to present the 2023/2024 budget. It will be the country’s Jubilee budget, and will feature important and innovative policies that will lay the foundation for our next 50 years as a nation,” he said.

“This will be just our second full fiscal cycle to deliver on our promise of a new day for the Bahamian people and fulfil our mandate as the duly elected government of The Bahamas,” Mr Davis said.

 “In that budget, as always, we will put the Bahamian people first, focusing on creating widespread and diverse opportunities at all levels, while creating a more equitable society and providing more support for those who need it the most,” he said.

 Mr Davis also spoke about the former administration’s inability to meet its budget projections for its four-and-a-half year term.

 “If this current mid-year budget before us didn’t already happen, such that the numbers represent incontrovertible fact, they would be saying that the six month out-turn, which has been presented, is too optimistic,” Mr Davis said.

 “Our optimism seems to be at the heart of their argument,” he said.

 “When they increased VAT by 60 percent, they didn’t meet their own revenue projections — so they are struggling to comprehend how we lowered VAT and lowered or eliminated customs duties on dozens of food items and essential goods, and not only met our revenue projections, but still be on track to have the highest recorded revenue as a percentage of GDP in the last ten years,” Mr Davis said.

  “Do you know that during their four years in office, year after year they failed to meet their budget projections? Year after year, the deficit grew to alarming levels,” he said.

 Mr Davis added: “They were forced to an early election, with a clear understanding that if by some slight chance they won, they had to increase taxes, including increasing VAT to 15 percent.

 “Now they’re gonna say that ain’t so, but there are only two possibilities. Either they had no plan to rescue the country from fiscal crisis, or they did have a plan – but were so sure it would lose them support that they kept it hidden before Bahamians voted,” Mr Davis said.

 Mr Davis then addressed his remarks made in Parliament last week about the fiscal deficit where he blamed The Nassau Guardian, for a wrong headline, then later clarified that his speech had been inaccurate.

 He apologised to The Nassau Guardian, seeking to “own” his mistake after calls to do so came from Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard in a recent interview.

 “Last week, I spoke about a headline in The Nassau Guardian about the fiscal deficit. I said that the headline was wrong; but in fact, that headline accurately reflected what was said in my communication, but was inconsistent with the technical information we provided, that is, the mid-year budget performance report, which was tabled,” he said.

 “

I want to take responsibility and to apologise, to thank the (Nassau) Guardian for their follow-up reporting on the progress the government has indeed made on fiscal matters. When we get something wrong, we will say so,” Mr Davis said.

 On February 22, 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.

 He later corrected this. According to Mr Davis, the 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.

 Mr Davis also addressed his comments made last week regarding companies and NGOs contracted by the former administration to handle public funds.

 “It seems that every day new evidence is being unearthed about the peculiar practices of the former administration,” he said.

 “Some of these practices go beyond bad governance: some border on criminality,” Mr Davis said.

 “We are identifying and correcting as we go along, and many of these matters are being dealt with discreetly,” he said.

“However, once the information is fully gathered and analysed, the public must be briefed on what our investigations are revealing. (That is) the level of incompetence, lack of checks and balances, and the effects of a total abuse of power we met in place and what we are doing to correct these abuses and hold the people and organisations involved accountable,” Mr Davis said.