The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard criticised Prime Minster Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday for a $258 million fiscal deficit that is larger than what government had projected.

The deficit exceeds government’s target by $127 million, Mr Pintard noted, blaming this on tremendous overspending in the past six months.

“One of the main takeaways from this budget is the government has busted the budget in a dramatic way because of poor priorities and uncontrolled spending,” the FNM leader said on Wednesday after Mr Davis delivered his mid-budget communication.

Mr Pintard said the opposition and rating agencies had warned the government that the fiscal plan it outlined last year would not allow it to reach its $131.5 million deficit targets.

“The prime minister today confirmed our worst fears,” Mr Pintard said.

“At this point in the year, they are already on track to go over $300m in terms of the deficit as predicted.”

“What we are saying is that government, because of its tremendous spending without the requisite revenue to offset it, they are creating what we believe is the potential for real hardship on the backs of Bahamians.”

Mr Pintard called on the prime minister to take immediate steps to curb his administration’s “wasteful and extravagant spending”.

The opposition leader noted that despite the inflow of capital from the pent-up demand for tourists to travel, the country’s deficit is not improving.

“The question,” he said, “is what is the government doing with all of this revenue that has been generated? Why are they not effectively paying down our debt or closing the gap between what we spend and what we earn? That is something that the PM conveniently could not bother to explain.”

“The prime minister failed in the first six months to explain the measures that he and his team would take in order to grow the economy,” he said.