THE BUDGET Speech was very fluently presented. But the speed at which it was delivered would suggest Minister Sinckler had a plane to catch or maybe wanted to get home to watch the Olympics.
Of course we know about lies, damned lies and statistics. I have long since lost confidence in these figures constantly thrown at us. I always wonder how unemployment figures are calculated. Is it from applications for unemployment benefits? If so, isn’t it true that you can’t apply for unemployment benefit if you’ve been at your workplace for less than a specified time?
I’m no economist or accountant so I’ll comment as someone observing life “on the ground”. To begin with, Minister Sinckler’s “we’ve turned the corner” doesn’t seem to mesh with what we’re seeing daily where there are people begging at every street corner, outside every supermarket ….. everywhere. Some have some really innovative strategies too.
Not to mention of course that our infrastructure, of which we were so proud, is now crumbling . I remember reading an article about a celebrity wedding here where we were described as a “stunning” island. I doubt we could claim that now. Hopefully, the IDB road project will bring some relief.
The budget could be divided into “the Good, The Bad and the Puzzling”. Starting with the good, the expansion of the special development areas should assist the tourism industry. Hopefully, the projects will enhance our landscape rather than deface it. Which reminds me: don’t the “concrete boxes” which have been superimposed on the beautiful St George Valley remind you of a severe case of acne on a teenager’s face?
The inclusion of Bridgetown as a special development area is welcomed, and should speed up the revitalisation proposed by the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry some years ago, but which is progressing very slowly.
The long awaited change to the Tourism Development Act allowing for more frequent claims for renovations to accommodate staged renovations should be a plus , especially for small hotels. It would be helpful too, to remove some of the red tape associated with claims under this act.
The minister wants tourism to be a real export industry. Currently, I suppose a large proportion of the tourism revenue either stays overseas or is remitted, added to the fact that considerable foreign exchange is spent on imported food and beverages. As has been said before, we need a diversity of attractions which would encourage visitors to increase their spend.
Talking about attractions, I recently visited the new “Wax Museum” in Maxwell and was really impressed by the work of the very talented artists/owners. This attraction is not only for visitors but would enhance the education of students.
Mid-year monitoring of the estimates is overdue. How can you vote public funds for projects and have no feedback on how this money was spent? We need detailed reports as had to be presented annually when I worked with the Ministry of Agriculture in the seventies.
Public officers must be accountable to the electorate, with those who haven’t performed, yet have received their salaries, terminated. I haven’t checked the latest version of the Public Service Act, but I suppose it’s full of loopholes which encourage slackness.
Another positive change is the promise to segregate funds designated for specific projects from the general funds in that “bottomless pit”, the Consolidated Fund. How this fund is currently operated is like the funds controlled by lawyers where it seems that clients’ funds and operating funds are all lumped together – and we know where that leads.
This also applies to VAT and income tax funds. Paying of refunds from these departments shouldn’t depend on government’s cash flow. If you overpay these agencies, the excess doesn’t belong to government and therefore shouldn’t be spent. These should be similarly “segregated” and refunds paid promptly. Then take the necessary steps against those who won’t pay taxes.
Of course, with all these proposals, the devil is in the detail. With some, this may be the last we hear of them. As Charles Tibbitts noted in his contribution to the post-budget discussion, there are ten items from the 2015 budget which haven’t been implemented, so we can only hope that these positive initiatives will be put in place sometime soon.
Next week I will comment on the “bad” and the “puzzling”.
• Dr Frances Chandler is a former independent senator.
Email: fchandler@caribsurf.com