remonstration or political posturing can obfuscate or otherwise hide the fact that the members opposite are responsible for the dire straights in which we now find our economy! But, we are not alone in the observation of the obvious: Standard and Poor, Moodys, the IMF, the IDB have all been objectively critical of fiscal policy between 2007 and 2012. The international institutions have no political axe to grind, nor have any of them condescended to support any political party. Almost in unison they have railed against the FNM’s fiscal irresponsibility…. What is remarkable about the fiscal policy intransigence of the Free National Movement is that its arrogance extended the bounds of stupidity to the point of being sheer madness! Amidst the clarion warnings of international experts the FNM band played on in seeming indifference to the world around us. For instance, Moody’s report of November, 2012 is instructive. In 23 pages, Moody’s details critically the poor performance of the FNM’s policy decisions and executions thereof. We see limited prospects for the fiscal consolidation necessary strengthen the government’s balance sheer and stabilized debt levels. The Bahamas has a limited revenue base and government relies disproportionately on volatile trade-related tax revenue and property taxes. A one-time revenue windfall from the divestment of The Bahamas Telecommunications Company eased financing needs in 2011 and stamp duties on several large tourism projects financed by foreign investment compensated for a decline in recurrent revenue in 2011, but these developments will nor be credit supportive going forward (Damien Gomez on the Budget Statement)
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:49:10 +0000
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