NASSAU, Bahamas — A prominent businessman is arguing that the present budget fails to properly detail the extent of the economic and fiscal crisis facing the Bahamian people following the COVID-19/Dorian debt blowout, The Tribune reported on June 7 in an article written by Business Editor Neil Hartnell.
Sir Franklyn Wilson, the Arawak Homes and Sunshine Holdings chairman, told Tribune Business that the 2021-2022 budget was not sufficiently candid on the post-pandemic challenges facing this nation and the level of austerity pain — via new and/or increased taxes, spending cuts or a combination of both — that may have to be endured by taxpayers in coming years.
In particular, he compared the present version to the 1993-1994 budget presented by then-prime minister Hubert Ingraham during the Free National Movement’s (FNM) first term in office, which he argued set out the party’s core fiscal philosophies.
Sir Franklyn implied that the 2021-2022 Budget represents a sharp departure from the foundations laid out by Mr Ingraham in that Budget almost 30 years ago, when the latter said: “Good governance is certainly not achievable if government misleads the people about the true state of the nation’s affairs; if public monies are used injudiciously, if expedient and popular choices are made which mortgage the nation’s future.
“Good governance is not achievable is unwarranted risks are taken with the public finances, by committing expenditure which cannot conceivably be supported by projected revenues, or if public monies are permitted to be squandered through weak or non-existent accounting systems, or through inefficiencies, extravagance or waste.”
Sir Franklyn, who said “let’s just say I did not see any magic” in reference to his pre-Budget prediction that the exercise would produce either “a magician or Humpty Dumpty”, described the 1993-1994 Budget communication as “particularly significant in the history of the FNM” because – together with its 1992 predecessor – it set out the party’s core philosophy on good governance.
Suggesting that those documents had input from the party’s founders, including members of the so-called ‘dissident eight’, he added: “Based on that, it would appear appropriate for all residents to look objectively at this Budget 30 years later and whether it comes close to what the founders of this party said the FNM was all about.
“It is not just the relevance of the commitments in that communication to a balanced Budget, although that is one obvious focus. Another focus is the commitment to transparency. When you look at this Budget for 2021-2022, serious questions arise as to whether or not the circumstances in which the country finds itself do not justify a higher level of candor.
“If you read this Budget, it’s like we’re going through a little something,” Sir Franklyn told this newspaper. “The question is: Does it convey just how serious the problems are? I give you one specific example.
“The fact the foreign reserves are $2bn-something. Is it truly a matter to boast about when there are investors in the country who cannot get their money out of the country as they would wish precisely because of the challenges facing the country? That’s a rather fundamental point; they can’t repatriate their profits from foreign direct investment.
“How do you talk about the level of foreign reserves as a strength and do so in a way that is consistent with the philosophy reflected in the earlier Budget, especially by the founders of that party. To me, there sees to be a disconnect.” See complete article in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/jun/07/budget-fails-convey-fiscal-crisis-true-depth/
