pm: plans On track
Phase Two of Government’s Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan will get under way next month.
That’s the assurance from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley as she fielded questions yesterday afternoon from the audience at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Luncheon, which was sponsored by Rubis and held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (LESC). It followed an hour-long presentation to a packed meeting room at the LESC before an audience that included businesspersons from various sectors and several Cabinet Ministers.
As she responded to questions, the Prime Minister spoke of the need for greater efficiency within the public sector, noting that all is on track with respect to the implementation of the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan, which should aid in that area as well. According to the Prime Minister, Phase Two will run from August this year to July 2019; while Phase Three is slated to run from July 2019 to December 2020; and Phase Four is the “wrap up” which will take place from January to June 2021.
“We have to stick to the timeline. The best journey and the most efficient journey is one for which there is a roadmap. So we need to settle the roadmap before the end of August, but we need to understand that the journey takes time and there are ‘no beam me up Scotty’ moments from Star Trek,” she stated.
Prime Minister Mottley’s remarks came as she also shed some light on the arrears owed to businesses by the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA). That issue was raised by former President of the Chamber of Commerce, Eddie Abed, who highlighted that the business community has been put in a tough position on account of the millions of dollars in tax refunds owed to them, as well as money for receivables for goods and services. Moreover, he expressed concern that the BRA did not even have a basic system of first in first out, to deal with the situation.
“A lot of these refunds were never certified, so we have members that have claims that go past 10, 15 years that in some instances have never been certified. When can we expect to see some of these refunds coming in place… and how can we expedite the process to have these things certified?” he queried of the PM.
In response, PM Mottley indicating that Government is cognisant of the pain they are feeling, said their commitment is first and foremost to start keeping things current, but they will be addressing the backlog, though not all at once.
“We’ve said that we have to set up a unit on arrears, that is part of our Phase Two activities that we are not looking at doing… Arrears will take time. You cannot build up arrears to the tune of 19 percent of GDP and expect that they are going to happen overnight. So we are conscious [and] I want you to be assured that fairness will attend all of our actions. It would not be the case of the highest and biggest noise keeper or any other unreasonable or illegal criteria. But that we will recognise that there will be fairness and there will be an appreciation to averting bankruptcy or insolvency because there has to be a sensitivity to keeping businesses alive as we do it,” she stated.
Assuring the business community that if they work with Government, Government will work with them, she disclosed that where companies are genuinely in need first to avert bankruptcy or insolvency they will treat them as a priority.
“After that it is a platform of a little for everybody on the basis of a little with content is great gain. But we can’t do all at once,” she said. (JRT)