KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Opposition Leader Dr. Godwin Friday Tuesday said that the EC$1.6 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2024 that Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves is asking Parliament to approve for 2024 contains “lots of promises, no fulfillment.”
Responding to Gonsalves’ earlier presentation, Friday pointed to missing numbers in the document, even in the Ministry of Finance, and questioned the seriousness of its preparation.
“That’s the overall context of the Budget: lots of promises, no fulfillment. Flouting the laws and regulations that the Minister is required to follow, not even having the care and attention to prepare the document with the basic information that is necessary to inform us here in the Parliament about how the various departments of the ministries are functioning,
“No attention to the overdraft problem with the lack of reconciliation between EC$120-$130 million of money unaccounted for,” Friday told lawmakers.
He said the government was still in the practice of converting the overdraft, which is supposed to be reduced at the end of the year, to a permanent loan, and this is being done despite the high interest rates of 6.5 or seven percent.
“All of that is costing us money. The Minister talked about increased debt servicing and rising debt-to-GDP ratio. All of these things add to them,” Friday said.
The Opposition Leader noted that in his opening remarks, he applauded the workers in the Ministry of Finance and the people in the various ministries who help produce the estimates annually.
“It looks like a very tedious and boring exercise, but it’s vitally important,” Friday said, adding, “but sometimes you read the document, and you wonder if they just run out of time or it just didn’t bother with some areas.”
He said this “leads to a certain approach to reading this document and wondering how much fidelity there is in it to the truth, to what is required in terms of policy.”
Friday noted that the Ministry of Finance is responsible for producing the document.
He pointed out that there are several crucial program actions under Inland Revenue Services, which comes under that ministry.
“And then there is you, pointing out that among the fields for which information was not entered were the percentage of taxpayers filing by the due date, the number of registered taxpayers — male and female, the number of cases heard by the court, and the number of objections received.
“There seems to be no attempt to carry out the Minister’s mandate. And when you see that, you ask yourself, ‘Well, what else should I not take seriously in this document?'” the Opposition Leader said.
He noted that pensions are on everybody’s lips now, noting that the Minister said he will give this particular attention when the Budget is delivered in January.
However, under pension and retirement benefits, the Estimates contain no information regarding the project.
“There was nothing, no information, just a box and some headings,” Friday said, adding, “How am I supposed to take that?’
He pointed out that the situation was the same regarding the Centre for Enterprise Development, whose key program actions in 2024 are listed, but there has yet to be an entry to date for 2023.
“… and that’s just in one ministry,” he said, adding that he had not had time to peruse the entire document with the same level of detail.
“But I know I have seen it elsewhere. The point that I’m making comes back to my original assertion, which is that there is a serious credibility gap when it comes to the presentation of the estimates and the Budget,” Friday said.
“We will come when we are debating the Budget in January. And you will see a lot of the stuff there; they sound nice and are presented with confidence.
“And then you look at the end of the year, and you say, ‘We, re is that?’ And it’s as though the Minister expects you to forget that it was ever mentioned that we must have short memories. How seriously can we take him in that process?”
Friday said the “flowery language and the hyperbole” from the government would make people think there is no basis for a valuable critique of the Budget.
The Opposition Leader said that the Gonsalves had noted that the Estimates comprise current revenue of EC$810 million and current expenditure of EC$835 million, including a current account deficit.
“But you can’t just gloss over the fact that there is a deficit and have glowing things to say about the plans and the wonderful things you’re going to accomplish for the economy in general, for young people in particular, without specifically saying how you’re going to finance the deficit on the current account, how you’re going to finance what ultimately on the capital side is a shortfall of revenue of $215 million.”
Friday said that the opposition has repeatedly said that the Estimates must be a guide, not just for the government, but for the society.
“Business people, looking at the capital expenditures, looking at the various allocations here and there, who operate in certain areas, ought to be able to say, ‘Well, they plan to spend $20 million here.
“So, there may be some business for me. I can do something to prepare myself for it or those persons who have seen that over the course of time when the government starts its projects, there are spin-offs.”
Friday, however, said that when there is a shortfall of EC$200 million, “then you know that there has to be some cut, somewhere because there’s no other place for your money to come from.
Friday spoke about the Other Capital Receipts category, which he said “is simply used as a balancing mechanism.
“But that presents the budget as though it is some sort of public relations exercise, rather than a serious document based on sound projections and on the real expectation that the revenue that forecasts, the money that they’re going to collect that they would get,” the opposition leader said.
“The Budget of $1.6 billion is premised upon, for its implementation, finding $215.8 million in other capital receipts. It may seem from one year to the other that it’s stating the obvious, but the point is, it may be obvious, but it’s essential; it cannot be ignored.”
Friday said that all the other revenue streams had been accounted for, including loans — local and external loans, tax revenue, and non-tax revenue.
“And we are led to believe that somehow the government could raise an additional $215 million from domestic sources to implement this large budget,” Friday said.
He said opposition lawmakers have done a historical analysis to show that those monies are never found and that the shortfall is part of the budget process in the future.
“I know it is Christmas time, But Santa Claus doesn’t have that kind of money either. So, we are back to square one again, where we have this, which is ultimately a dishonest document, where EC$215 million short.”
He noted that the finance minister said the Estimates would transform people’s lives in the country.
“They’re his words. He said that they were going to be major projects,” Friday said.
He noted that the Minister said that this year, the government will spend over EC$350 million on projects, more than any other year, and EC$570 million is budgeted for 2024.
“… but again, it’s on projects. We need to focus on people. We have to start thinking about the lives of affected people,” Friday said.
“When you’re fixing a road, understand how it will affect people who use it. Don’t just do it because it’s convenient for you. When budgeting for certain things, whether in the fishing industry or in agriculture, you have to ask yourself how to fix people.
“Otherwise, big projects don’t mean anything. All they do is just something for the Minister or the government to brag about. ‘Watch how big it is. Watch how big and pretty this is.’ But if it doesn’t change lives or make people or provide for people, then it’s just a project, and there have been many of those not just here, bigger than anything we’re doing here all over the world.”
The Opposition Leader said these projects look good, “but they don’t do anything for the people.
“The point that I’m saying is I support the capital projects that have been done because we need to jumpstart this economy and get things going. But you can’t do it in isolation, in a vacuum. You have to focus on people.
“And I’m looking forward to when the budget is debated in January, that that must address those issues, the cost-of-living crisis that people are feeling, the problem with the pensions and so forth, the insecurity that people feel in their homes because of rising crime, it has to focus on people,” Friday told Parliament.
and then  Estimates of Revenue){kind=link}