The Ministry of Finance is aiming to demystify fiscal and Budgetary terms through a collaboration with social media influencers designed to explain what they mean for ordinary Bahamians.
It announced in a statement that it is working with digital content creators, Timico Sawyer and Jaquay Adderley, commonly known as “Sawyerboy” and “DasQuay” respectively, to produce educational videos about terminology used during the budget debate.
The aim of the “Budget Basics” initiative, the Ministry of Finance said, is to increase financial literacy and inspire informed conversations about the national budget. Using their personalities and easily understood language, the video blogger duo will produce short, explanatory videos covering 20 important budget terms and concepts. The videos are intended to be engaging, entertaining and educational.
“The idea of transparency is not only about providing information to the public; it is also about making information easy to understand and therefore accessible. The enhanced communication activities at the Ministry of Finance are a core part of our commitment to transparency, and this initiative is a continuation of our work to engage the public more proactively,” said K Peter Turnquest, deputy prime minister.
“Financial literacy is something we take for granted when the reality is discussions about the budget often include technical terms that not everyone understands. By working with these talented content creators we are able to reach new audiences using the vehicle of edutainment.”
The videos will cover budget terms such as debt; deficit; surplus; variance; fiscal; direct charge; arrears; fixed and discretionary; fiscal responsibility; and new borrowing.
The Ministry of Finance said its “Budget Basics” initiative is part of an enhanced communications plandesigned to increase public awareness about the Budget. It last year introduced a Budget Magazine, which provided a non-technical summary of the budget.
This year, the Ministry of Finance is planning to introduce new resources for public education and engagement, including the Budget Basics videos and a new budget website.
Comments
DDK 4 years, 11 months ago
What cost this nonsense? Is this Government's answer to poor education in The Bahamas Government school system?
jujutreeclub 4 years, 11 months ago
@DDK. I think you meant "Caused"
thephoenix562 4 years, 11 months ago
Game set and match.
bogart 4 years, 11 months ago
HEAR WE GO AGSIN.....BAMBOOZLE....HOODWINK....AN AINT HAV WORD LIKE.....REGRESSIVE TAXATION....PEOPLES TIME....MALFEASANCE.....MISFEASANCE......NONGESEANCE..............NOW PEOPLE POORER THAN PORE......PEOPLE CANT GET BELLY FULL CONTENTMENT WID WORDS.......LARGEST LONGEST SOUP LINES IN BAHAMIAN HISTORY. Thank goodness for these brothers an sisters..........Bahamians done know ....TALK CHEAP...MONEY BUY LAND.....Sweetmout....SUGGA ON DERE TONGUE....GETTING GOOSIE.....SLICK TALK...COOKOO SOUP......TAKIN BREAD OUTTA YA MOUT....EVEN..Mighty Sparrow dis have song widsom like.....cant make love on hungry belly
sheeprunner12 4 years, 11 months ago
Most citizens do not tune into what Parliament does year over year ....... they wait for the rally season to get excited (again) ........... They like to see the PM visiting their constituencies/islands to unveil some shiny new object/project ........ but they don't have interest in crunching the budget jargon ............... It's a struggle - that reflects our lack of basic Civics education/interest ............ and our "all-for-me-baby" political culture.
BONEFISH 4 years, 11 months ago
i just smile at this suggestion.Hubert Ingraham when he was prime minister and the minister of finance made a comment.He presented a budget in the house.He said the accounting firms in Jamaica,Barbados and Trinidad would provide a free analysis of their's countries budget.The accounting firms here should be doing that also. But this is the Bahamas.This is also a subtle way to campaign.
joeblow 4 years, 11 months ago
This is where we are at this point in our history--- the dumbed down must be catered to!
Millennial242 4 years, 11 months ago
'edutainment' is not a word.
I don't like it (personal opinion).
The idea has some good reasoning to it, but perhaps the execution should be reconsidered. Maybe this is a tool that should be used in the schools to teach children. Releasing it with intentions to target the masses (children and adults) seems like you're attempting to delegitimize the importance of understanding the budget process. These comedians have a brand of 'silly-funny' and 'crazy-funny' and not necessarily 'humour-with-a-purpose'. If we really want to deliver some type of 'edutainment' then I hope educators are also involved in this process (i.e., people who have some experience with educating and/or producing educational materials).
Clamshell 4 years, 11 months ago
Budget jargon, simplified: “You gonna remain poor. MPs and high government muckety-mucks gonna be OK. More “fact-finding” missions to Beijing, Monaco and Paris in the forecast, but ... you gonna remain poor.”
sheeprunner12 4 years, 11 months ago
How will these comedians explain that the last MOF audited entries are for March 31, 2019 ...... that the fiscal year ends June 30, 2019 .......... But we will get projected estimates for the final quarter to base the next fiscal year "estimates" on .......... and we expect to ever make sense of this Bahamian political and economic conundrum?????????
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