But, not surprisingly, one man who was not wowed by the dense technical tone of the budget presentation was Opposition leader Dean Barrow. He said it's not an economic turnaround, it's a full and flat out farce.
Hon. Dean Barrow, Opposition Leader
"It was a very flat presentation which I think was indicated by the total lack of any applause from the PM's own colleagues on the benches. About the only boast that the Prime Minister could make is that the fiscal deficit has been taken down to 3.9% of GDP or $89 million. It is of course a dishonest boast because that does not take into account the fact of the amortization, the interest and principal payments on the debt. Those amounted to some $301 million so when you add that together with the fiscal deficit that he acknowledges, you are looking at an overall financing shortfall of $400 million.
We see that the taxes didn't perform, that in fact the recurrent revenue fell short by $22 million over what was projected and the recurrent expenditure exceeded the approved estimate, what was projected, by $52 million. That does not augur well for the figures that he is know giving us with respect to the upcoming financial year."
Jules Vasquez,
But you will accept there is a variance in the figures because they had to change strategies in mid-stream in so far as the budget was presented very early, there was all this unrest, and then they had to give the raises and attenuate some of the tax measure.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"That is so but again all those conditions are conditions of the government's own making. The fact is that its results that count and the results are piss poor in terms of what we have seen in the budget book and what the Prime Minister has been forced to acknowledged in his speech a while ago.
Again the largest problem is the debt crisis, without a doubt. We have to find this year another $280 million to service the debt. He doesn't tell us in the speech where its going to come from, he tells us instead that he's contracted this group of foreign experts and he's awaiting their report. We know that their report has in fact been produced because in fact it was featured on Channel 7 and we know that the experts tell him basically you've run out of options. So the Prime Minister doesn't even try to postpone the inevitable in the budget presentation, he simply ignores the crisis by telling that, 'we're awaiting the strategy that the experts will recommend to us.' This is what continues not to just to bedevil us, this is what continues to confound any possibility of development of a country.
I would have like to hear principally that we found a way to deal with the debt crisis; that we have found a way, not be restructuring the debt, of refinancing the debt so that all our recurrent revenue, which ought to be spent on the people of this country, wouldn't have to go to debt servicing of this humongous debt. He's blaming the private sector for the size of the debt crisis; it's absolutely incomprehensible."
Jules Vasquez,
You predicted doom and gloom, you predicted the new taxes, they are not here.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"The new taxes are not here yet apart from the GST, which does represent an increase in taxes, which will visit all sorts of trouble on the Belizean people, especially since they've almost completely done away with the zero-rating categories. That point is that this lack of any information from the Prime Minister as to how they are going to service the debt is the key to everything. The experts that he has contracted can't wave a magic wand and find money for him. At the end of the day, that money will have to come from the local economy; that money will have to come from the tax revenues."
Jules Vasquez,
Sir he portrays this, he said very earlier on, that the budget focuses on the needs of the poorer classes, the people in our urban and rural areas, and then later on he characterizes it as a re-discovery of roots, moving away from the big projects and moving to people centered projects.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
"Well how are we to believe the Prime Minister? Projects that he embarked on formerly, which he told us at the time was supposed to be people centered and people driven and manageable and meant to better the quality of life, he now describes as grandiose. He uses a term of disapprobation, he uses a term of opprobrium, with respect to the very programs that he embarked on which...when he embarked on them he was telling us they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Prime Minister once again finds himself in a position where he is confirming to the nation that what he says simply cannot be relied on and I am putting that as charitable as I can."
Barrow and his newly emboldened colleagues in the house will have their swing at the budget during next week's debate which starts on Thursday.
