IF THERE IS ONE CERTAINTY Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler will pull from his Budget ‘black box’ it will be another round of Government belt-tightening to help rein in overall spending, especially on imports.
Just how he will do it will remain a matter for conjecture until today at 4 p.m. when the House of Assembly convenes for the annual Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals.
Sinckler’s second Budget, after his first on November 22 last year, is being looked forward to with great anticipation across the spectrum, from corporate Barbados, which wants a tax ease; to householders, who want a reduction in the cost of living; to the official Opposition, which would revel in a ‘giveaway Budget’ about 18 months away from the next election; and to the unemployed, who simply want a job.
All of this as Government continues to battle with a domestic economic recession which it said was almost exclusively driven by the ravages of a global financial and economic crisis, characterized by most as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, in terms of its global reach, duration and severity. (AB)
Full story in today’s DAILY NATION.
