The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune BUsiness Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The GOVERNMENT’S claims that it has had to subsidise Freeport economy to the tune of $29 million were described yesterday as “a bit disingenuous” and “misleading”, a Free National Movement (FNM) MP stating that Grand Bahama was “no charity case”.

Speaking during an Opposition press conference following the 2013-2014 Mid-Year Budget, K. Peter Turnquest, FNM MP for East Grand Bahama, said: “For years now we have heard those kinds of statements in Grand Bahama as if we are somehow a drain on the public treasury.

“Grand Bahama is a net contributor to the Treasury’s consolidated fund, well in excess of $400 million. So to the extent that the Government puts $29 million into the economy of Grand Bahama to sustain its tourism industry, in particular, I think is a bit disingenuous and misleading.

“Grand Bahama is self-sustaining and the model of what the Hawksbill Creek Agreement is and what it was intended to be has been proven to be advantageous to the Bahamas, and certainly we do not want anyone to go away with the impression that Freeport is a charity case.”

Mr Turnquest also noted that the contraction in the overall deficit was due largely to government cutbacks on capital projects for health services and significant capital expenditure undertaken by the former Ingraham administration.

“For the Government to claim credit for that reduction rings hollow because it’s nothing that they did, it’s a fact of circumstance,”Mr Turnquest said.

Commenting on the government’s $300 million bond issue, Mr Turnquest said: “One has to ask the question with all the debt we have at the rates he (Prime Minister Christie) would have characterised as being on the higher end, if we can in fact get a lower interest rate by going out and taking advantage of some of this $6 billion, why wouldn’t we do that?

“It seems to me that if we can retire some of the higher interest paying debt it would be in our best interest to do that.”

Mr Turnquest also noted that the FNM was not in support of the proposed Value-Added Tax (VAT).

“We do not believe that it is a fair tax, but it is as regressive or even more so than Customs duties. This is not a business tax, this is a consumer tax, meaning you and I will pay between 7-15 per cent more on our daily expenditure. There will be some offsets with respect to the lowering of duties but there will be an inflationary effect of at least 7 per cent,” the FNM MP said.