Former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Owen Arthur says the Barbados economy is performing worse than it had been expected to, and he is challenging Government to lay out a set of measures to convert the worst case scenario into something that is sustainable.
Arthur was contributing to debate of the 2013-2014 Estimates Of Revenue And Expenditure in the House of Assembly yesterday.
“The Estimates before this Parliament reflect a lack of fiscal prudence,” he said. “At the start of the year the Government anticipated revenues of $2.6 billion. During the course of the year, revenues were $220 million less than was projected. You would anticipate if there was going to be such a large shortfall in projected revenue that the Government would make a sensible adjustment.”
Instead, he said, Government decided to increase its expenditure by $500 million. (JS)
