But, of course, even without the presence of the opposition the budget was presented. And, for the first time in years, the Prime Minister had a full roster of representatives on his side of the house - including the long absent Gaspar Vega. More on the political version of musical chairs later, but first to the main business of the day, the Budget Presentation. Jules Vasquez has the story:
Stingily titled, “Making Every dollar countâ€, the Prime Minister made it clear though that - because of an expected drought and the arrival of the corona virus, circumstances have forced him to break every commitment he made on the debt to GDP ratio and budgetary constraints:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister "This year we di spend money and to heck with fiscal targets set by people abroad because we must invest in our people. We must find money to deal with the drought and coronavirus and everything else."
Government’s target to its borrowers was to keep 2 percent primary surplus. Last year, they came $20 million dollars short of that, but, next year, forget about it:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow "For this new fiscal year, there is simply no way that we can realistically squeeze the Belizean people and get from what we must proceed to do that that 2 percent of GDP as a primary surplus, which would be the equivalent of $70 million. That target must be put on pause. Our commitment is firstly to our public servants, to their increments, to our pensioners, to the operational costs of proper public management and, critically, to our infrastructural campaign. And these simply cannot be paused or pruned. This commitment to sustained stimulus is especially urgent in view of the recent jolts to the economy, such as the drought and crop diseases, and now the worrying prospect of a coronavirus-induced recession."
So, the PM plans to spend his way out of that recession - and a major part of that plan is more infrastructure spending:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow "Fortunately, the FY 2020/21 Budget which we propose today, representing total spending and investment of $1.362 billion, plus $109m for principal repayments, funds an extensive envelope of capital projects. It also preserves the salaries and increments of all public officers and facilitates our expanding menu of pro-poor, education, healthcare and citizen security programs."
"Of the $137.7 million in the Capital III Budget, over $87 million is to finance the following key infrastructure projects:
Upgrading of the Corozal-Sarteneja Road and Bridges ($10.0 million)
Upgrading of Coastal Road ($12.0 million)
Continuation of work on Phase I of the CARACOL Road Project ($15.0 million).
Continuation of work on the upgrading of new sections of the George Price Highway ($13.0 million)
Continuation of the upgrading of the Hummingbird Highway including the replacement of five single-lane bridges with modern double-lane bridges ($5.0 million)"
Shockingly government’s wage bill has doubled in the 12 years of UDP rule:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow "This year’s investment in personal emoluments for all our 14,000 public officers, police and military personnel; all our teacher, nurses, doctors and every last person who serves our citizens; and, of course, the approximately 1,000 pensioners we look after in their post-service life. Thus, it is that salaries for all of those just listed amount now to $540.5 million, up from $276.3 million in 2008."
And while the deficit widens, borrowing and grants, not taxes will fill the gap:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow "This Budget, like 10 of the other 12 tabled by our Administration in this House, has been constructed and will be implemented without even a dollar of new taxes. This budget is a crescendo of positive prosperity markers, a shimmering pinnacle of fiscal and economic triumph."
The Prime Minister’s last speech and the last of his term turned out to be one of his longest, clocking in at nearly an hour.Â
Email
Print