The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard called on the government to “clarify” its statements or “substantiate its claims” in response to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis’ statements about half the national debt being as a result of impacts of hurricanes.

On August 16, during a regional conference at Baha Mar, Mr Davis said that 50 percent or more of the country’s national debt was connected directly to consequences of natural disasters between 2015 and 2019 and having to borrow money for recovery.

Though Mr Pintard agreed that The Bahamas and other small island developing states bear the brunt of pollution from more developed nations, Mr Pintard called on the government to indicate the source of its calculation that 50 percent of the outstanding debt profile of $12.1 billion was caused by climate events between 2015 and 2019.

“At the beginning of fiscal year 2015/16 the public sector debt stood at approximately $5.4 billion. To conclude that 50 percent of our current outstanding debt came from climate events would mean that almost all the growth in the debt in that time would be attributable to climate change events that happened between 2015 and 2019,” said Mr Pintard.

“It clearly leaves out the fiscal effects of the pandemic and the unprecedented steps that the then government had to take in order to support tens of thousands of displaced persons, while doing as much as possible to keep the economy afloat. The initiatives were supported unanimously by the then PLP in opposition and contributed substantially to the increase in the debt profile,” he said.

Mr Pintard added that it is important that the government “maintains its credibility” when giving public statements and moves past “bemoaning” situations to actually governing and dealing with them.

“We accept that climate change events over the years have caused restoration efforts and revenue losses that have caused the country billions of dollars in necessary borrowing. But we believe it is important that the government maintains its credibility in its public statements. It is thus important that the government substantiates its claims on the fiscal impact of the climate events or clarifies its statements,” Mr Pintard said.

“More important than that, the government must move past bemoaning the situation and get on with the job of governance. We call on the government to lay out its detailed plan to improve the fiscal and economic situation and put the country on a solid foundation for sustained and inclusive economic growth. We also expect to see the plan to address the effects of climate change to ensure more robust and resilient infrastructure and greener means for generating power,” he said.

Prime Minister Davis noted at the event that the Caribbean had been identified as the region with the largest number of indebted countries.

“Here in The Bahamas, we undertook an exercise which revealed that more than 50 percent of our outstanding debt can be linked to the impacts of the hurricanes which descended on us between 2015 and 2019,” he said. “Our countries are struggling with debts accumulated by climate disasters.”

He added: “What does this mean for the development of our nations, when our risk profile is becoming so severe that insurers question their willingness to offer risk facilities to offset climate disasters? Put simply, we are in danger of becoming uninsurable.”