The Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper has labelled the mid-year budget communication as a collection of “useless words” and “delusional predictions”.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest indicated in the House of Assembly yesterday that the first six months of this fiscal year saw the fiscal deficit shrink by 31 percent to $175.3 million.
He added that with new revenue expected to roll in from the government’s agreement with the gaming houses will be somewhat below the amount included in the 2018/19 budget in the sum of approximately $18 million.
Mr. Cooper said, “We have warned this administration for months that its VAT stakeholders, the hotel industry and the construction sector among them, have led to what will be a significant revenue shortfall.
“The government’s agenda to bully and erode the wealth of the Bahamian-owned legal gaming industry has also fallen flat.”, he added.
The Exuma and Ragged Island MP added that running The Revenue Enhancement Unit, instituted by the Christie administration, through the shredder has proven to be folly.
This, he said, shows a failure of this government and he has not heard anything inspiring coming out of the communication.
He said, “at half-year revenue, collections are only 38 per cent of annual projections, down against projection despite the painful 60 per cent increase in VAT.
“This government has not yet put another unit in place and the $80 million in lost revenue it promised it would capture, was just another empty promise. This amounts to around a $200 million shortfall by the government’s own calculations.”, he added.
“We suspect, at the end of the day, it will be an even greater shortfall and the deficit prediction will be missed.”, he said.
Mr. Cooper said the statement was an admission of failure by the government which appears to remain committed to its disastrous policy of hitting an IMF-dictated deficit target without regard to the human cost.
He added that the PLP looks forward to further analysis on the appropriations to see exactly where the Minnis-Administration will inflict pain on the Bahamian people “in a vain effort to pretty the books and protect their fragile egos”.
