The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A prominent governance reform campaigner warned yesterday that the Bahamas has "no time for mistakes" on fiscal reform, with Moody's having expressed alarm at the deterioration unveiled in the 2017-2018 Budget.

Robert Myers, a principal with the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), told Tribune Business that this nation was "absolutely on the radar" of both credit rating agencies - Moody's and Standard & Poor's - reiterating that he, too, was shocked by the vast gulf in the fiscal forecasts between the Minnis administration and its predecessor.

"When one administration says that it is going to narrow the deficit and it doesn't happen, it just makes us all look stupid," he said. "That's not good from a number of standpoints; there are no ifs, ands or buts about it.

"The reality is that we have to do better with managing our fiscal affairs.

"We have to take this stuff very seriously or we are going to face some very hard socio-economic times."

Moody's recently warned that the Minnis administration's much-revised fiscal forecasts, and its planned $722 million borrowing, show this nation's fiscal strength was "much weaker" than it had bargained for.

The ratings agency wrote-off its previous projection that the Bahamas' direct government debt-to-GDP ratio would stabilise below 70 per cent, instead estimating that this will continue to climb through the 2019-2020 fiscal year - in contrast with the Government's forecast that it will peak near 73 per cent in 2017-2018.

Mr Myers said that while the Minnis administration appears to be saying the right things, how effective it can be remains to be seen. "The new administration is saying the right things for the most part," he agreed.

"The question remains how effective they can be in terms of making it happen, and does it have enough people who understand the changes that need to be made in order to make that happen.

"We really don't have time for mistakes.

"We need people in there that are going to do what they say and act responsibly.

"There needs to be a big shift in the culture of governance in this country."