MUCH ADO ABOUT nothing.
That, essentially, was the Opposition Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) take on the ministerial statement delivered by Minister of Finance, Chris Sinckler, in the House of Assembly this morning.
Leader Mia Mottley said no one is the wiser from hearing the 30 minute statement as it offered no hope and relief to Barbadians, and described it as perhaps the longest apology in Parliament for a long time for the Government’s failure.
In summary, said Mottley, it was an admission yet again that the Government’s many plans are not working.
She said growth is still elusive; foreign reserves have not been stabilised but are being propped up by the Credit Suisse Loan of $450 million; the national debt and the cost of debt service to the Government are both still increasing and the cost of Government borrowing is still prohibitive and increasing.
“The expenditure targets set in the last budget of August 2013 have not been met and the revenue targets set in the last budget of August 2013 have not been met (while) Government still with a cash flow problem,” said Mottley at the media briefing called this afternoon in the Opposition’s office in Parliament.
She was flanked by parliamentary colleagues Dale Marshall on the right and Edmund Hinkson to her left. Others in attendance were Ronald Toppin, Dr Maria Agard, Cynthia Forde and Jeffrey Bostic.
Mottley charged that Sinckler had not announced any new policy initiatives to give Barbadians confidence and to remove their doubts and fears.
“No relief has been announced for households and enterprises; no relief for the CLICO policyholders who continue to wait for a solution; the Minister has not told Barbadians when they will receive their VAT and Income Tax Refunds. Indeed, he has only appealed to them to pay the principal in an amnesty he announced, but to do that and benefit from the amnesty you must have money,” said Mottley.
The BLP leader added that there is no hope for better days in the upcoming months for those attending the QEH and polyclinics from Sinckler’s statement.
Also, there was no hope for the students at the University of the West Indies as they are about to enter the second semester, some of who were not able to pay their fees for the first semester or get bursaries or student loans.
Mottley said the only think Sinckler managed to effectively do, was to create even greater anxiety among workers of public enterprises as they were told that their places of employment are to be rationalised.
She charged that yet again Barbados’ development was put on pause for yet another four months as people wait to hear what the Government will do to kickstart the economy and to save them from daily hardships.
“Above all else, the greatest indictment on the statement of the Minister was that the Prime Minister did not find it important enough to be there. The fact that he too absented himself from the chamber along with Minister David Estwick causes us to believe that they too recognised that the statement was irrelevant to people’s lives. It was just one 30-minute apology for the continued failure of the Government,” said Mottley.
