Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder said former State Minister for Finance Zhivargo should be ashamed of himself for making careless comments about his government’s stewardship of the nation’s finances.

He was responding to Mr. Laing’s comments Wednesday that the Christie administration’s $700 million deficit is a result of reckless management.

Minister Pinder said it is unbelievable that Mr. Laing is pointing fingers as he should be the last person claiming that there is mismanagement in the Ministry of Finance.

“Zhivargo Laing was the minister that prepared the budget under which we are operating today. He is the minister that for five years never put an accurate budget to this country and always overspent and under collected every year,” he said.

“It is only through the qualified persons in the cabinet in the Ministry of Finance that we are beginning to understand the damage that the FNM Administration and former minister of state did to this country financially,” he said.
Mr. Pinder said Mr. Laing should be very careful when making statements.

On Tuesday, key advisor to the Christie administration, James Smith announced that the government would need to borrow between $100 million to $150 million to cover its liabilities.

This would bring the total budget deficit proposed by the government to $700 million, which Mr. Laing said is evidence of the Christie administration’s mismanagem