Sinckler: Possible additional benefits of mobile tax

That’s according to Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler. He made the comments while speaking to the media recently. The new VAT rate, which was announced last year and formally introduced on January 1 this year, is intended to raise some $14 million annually to fund university scholarships.

 

“We have to look and see what the first quarter has given in relation to what has been brought in… Those resources will pass through to the Ministry of Education particularly for the tertiary education part in relation to the scholarships that are being offered to Barbadians to help them with the tuition fees at Cave Hill. But if additional resources come in, they will be spread around to the other tertiary institutions or post secondary institutions like BCC and SJPP. But the Ministry of Education will determine how that will be done,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, speaking to the issue of public health financing, the Finance and Economic Affairs Minister said that it is a critical area that needs to be focused on, especially given that the Ministry of Health spends in the vicinity of $700 million on public health.

 

“…It will not get any cheaper, or less costly because of the sophistication of medical interventions now and the sheer nature of the illnesses we face, particularly the chronic non-communicable diseases. So we have to find a way to finance that operation. Not so much a cutting of expenditure in health care, even though you want to have want to be effective in spending money. So as far as efficiencies can be built so that QEH and other health institutions can be less wasteful, if that’s the word to be used, we will do so. But we have to be sure that we finance health care,” he said.

 

He made the point as he noted that the rapid speed and manner at which health care expenditure is expanding is becoming a challenge. With that in mind, he said Government hopes that by the time the upcoming Budget rolls around they would have determined which model of financing is best especially at the tertiary care level, so that it can be discussed with the country.

 

“The QEH managers say that roughly they could be comfortable with between $185 and $200 million; that is a fairly substantial amount. We settle through various interventions with them, roughly around $165 million. That keeps the institution operable and providing a level of care that is satisfactory for Barbadians, but as that service sophisticates, the expectation is that the cost will increase, so we have to make provision for that,” he said. (JRT)