Moderator Tennyson Beckles making a point during last week’s Unity Lunchtime lecture, while featured speaker Peter J. Carter looks on.
Business Monday: Examine measures closely!
7/9/2012
By RuthMoïsa Alleyne
IS the Opposition pressuring Government to be reckless and unrealistic implementing measures taken to run the economy? Could Government have done more to ease the strain of households, particularly being that this is election year?
Peter J. Carter, a local chartered accountant is arguing that Barbadians need to examine the recently proposed budgetary measures within the context of the financial and political climate facing the country, as well as not to view in isolation measures taken within or outwith the budget.
At the lunchtime lecture programme Friday at the Democratic Labour Party headquarters, various persons met to thrash out their views on the budgetary proposals presented in the House of Assembly recently by Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler. Spearheading the discussions was Mr. Carter, who addressed several points of interest which would have influenced the proposals.
Speaking to the financial climate of the country, Carter reminded the audience that Barbados had already been subject to a downgrade and it was felt that we might have received another one had our fiscal position not strengthened in the short term. Not only was this so, he said, but other major countries of the world, including our trading partners, were downgraded, “so measures in the budget, of course, would have needed to reflect that”.
Carter explained to Business Monday after the discussions that he understood that given this was a political election year, there would have been certain expectations which the public would have had.
“The government would have to be able to manage this... to determine if [the expectation] is something it can really manage [because] it makes no sense giving out benefits in year one or year two, only to have to pull them back in year four or five [because the measures were not sustainable].”
He questioned if the real pressure was not, in fact, coming from the Opposition Party through its appeals to reduce the Value Added Tax, reduce fuel costs through subsidisation and return taxable allowances.
Carter pointed out that included in Governments’ balancing act was its commitment to maintaining jobs – a commitment which he felt could not be allowed to fall through, particularly at this time.
When asked if he felt that persons were justified in feeling as if the budget could have done more to put extra money back into the pockets of the average person, Carter stated that there were things that government had already done – even outside of previous budgets – that would have had a positive impact on household expenditure, namely the introduction of free bus travel for school children and free national summer camps. Mentioning the increased severance payments from twenty-six to forty weeks and the raising of the minimum wage, Carter argued that “in that context Government wants to maintain those things... so they cannot be reckless doing things that would endanger the benefits that they have already brought to the country”.
Other points raised during the course of the lecture were measures taken with regards to renewable energy, agriculture and a national land policy.
