GOVERNMENT IS SELLING the Barbados National Oil Company (BNOC), introducing a 20 cent cess on gasoline, and extending tax on bank assets to all financial institutions, including credit unions.
It was not the annual Budget presentation in the House of Assembly yesterday, but Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler announced the measures during his three-hour presentation as he led debate on the 2014-2015 Appropriations Bill to approve Government’s Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the 2014-2015 financial year.
Telling the Lower House that there was a $105 million shortfall in Government’s efforts to move the projected deficit from almost seven per cent to a target of 5.5 per cent, he revealed the imposition of a 20-cent excise tax on gasoline which should generate $23 million in additional revenue for Government.
That cess would not “immediately impact on motorists at the pump”.
And though he failed to provide information on the identity of the buyer or when the sale was likely to take place, Sinckler said the BNOC’s disposal should put $70 million in Government’s coffers.
