The Tribune

IT WAS never going to be easy.

In the last Budget before an election, a Prime Minister might hope to be able to offer sweeteners or incentives for people to vote for them.

But the purse is empty for Dr Hubert Minnis, with an economy wrecked by COVID-19’s effect on tourism as the world ground to a halt.

Worse, we’re borrowing from someone else’s purse. Debt is on course to top $10 billion and we’re going to be paying $500m a year just to stand still. Minnis is already planning an option of borrowing another $68m to see us across the line in this financial year. Then comes the idea that to get through the next fiscal cycle we add another $871m to keep everything on track.

Like a gambler at Atlantis going all in, we’re betting everything on tourism bouncing back to fix our economic troubles. After all, that’s where our big money has been coming from before, so that’s our most obvious way to dig our way out of the hole again.

One of the options on the table might have been increasing taxation – but that would not be the most palatable thought for any political party ahead of an election.

More to the point, if revenue is down because people don’t have an income in the first place, then taxing people more who have nothing to give anyway isn’t going to solve anything.

The PLP have been quick to criticise the Budget, calling it “weak on solutions” but not offering any of their own.

Chester Cooper talked of the economy contracting by 25 percent under this government, but that’s ignoring the elephant in the room of the pandemic and its global effect. The virus swept the world, including here in The Bahamas, and with it went cruise sailings, while hotels and restaurants and more shut down and furloughed staff.

So within those constraints, how did Dr Minnis do with this Budget?

Well, he talked of setting the stage for “the impending economic rebound”.

There are some moves to bring in extra tax money, such as on real estate transactions over $2m. People renting out vacation homes on services such as Airbnb will also have to pay VAT on rentals and commissions.

There were also some duty eliminations, such as on building supplies to encourage construction, as well as on materials for repairs to churches. There was also an elimination of VAT on sanitary products, including tampons for women.

Also notable was $2m being found from the bottom of the purse to help the Junkanoo community to develop a permanent headquarters – something likely to be welcomed by members of the various groups. Then there was money for various projects on a number of islands, from Ragged Cay to Treasure Cay, Marsh Harbour to Exuma, Inagua to Grand Bahama.

There’s also a new economic zone that will be established for southern islands.

As we look at the Budget, though, we should also look farther afield, to the countries that have made more progress with vaccinations and defeating the virus, such as the United Kingdom and what that means for reopening the economy.

The key to it all remains getting on top of the virus – and that means vaccinations. Some locations are getting imaginative with their approach to that. On PAGE 12 today, you can read about a scheme in Ohio where people getting vaccinated are entered into a draw where they could win $1m or, for youngsters, get a full-ride scholarship through college. What can we do to encourage more people to get the jab? After all, that’s the way forward.

So was it a Budget to solve all our problems? No, and it was never going to be. Will it provide the rocket fuel the economy needs for lift-off? Again, probably not, because the money flows need to start coming again before they can be pumped where it needs to go.

But in the balance of things, it probably helped the country in areas where it could. The biggest concern is the growing debt. All debt has to be paid off someday, and we can’t keep pushing someday off in the hope of a better tomorrow.