| Finances Still Look Gloomy | | Print | |
| Monday, 16 November 2009 23:57 | |||
 Permanent Secretary of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Delton Jones gave the Consultative Forum on November 10th an overview of the current state of public finances and the news was not good.
Even after many strong cost cutting measures and attempts to collect outstanding debts, the government continues to have a shortfall in meeting the monthly budget. This shortfall is not only creating issues in paying of debts, but also paying ongoing expenses, fixed costs such as rents and civil servant salaries. In September the Ministry of Finance announced an outstanding total debt of $135 million USD. This combines short and long term debt and an accumulating monthly deficit between expenses and government incomes. Jones, along with various advisors, has been working on a plan to restructure the current debt and ways to close the deficit gap. One concern of debt for the current administration is the $600,000 in bounced checks on the books. As a new measure to deter such behaviour, Jones announced a new $50 bank and administration penalty which will begin to be charged on all future bounced checks to the government. Jones also announced another critical measure to the business community, stating that no future payments on invoices will be made unless accompanied by a purchase order or other contract. In an interview with the fp, Advisory Council member Ms. Edith Cox says the current debt is serving as a major barrier to the development of the country. Although a good deal of current debt to local and international business is not being charged interest, there is also a great deal of short and long term debt which is costing the government money, money it simply does not have. “Until we are able to restructure the debt, even without deliberately incurring new debt, we are compiling interest of existing debt, making the problem even worse.” Currently the Ministry of Finance, with support from the British government is working to secure a line of credit to consolidate short term debt, which generally incurs high interest rates. However, Jones said it is difficult to secure such a loan given the bad reputation the country enjoys with respect to their handling of finances. Jones called on the community to support his efforts and work together to achieve the goal of creating financial security for the country. Whether it is reducing waste, respecting financial constraints or patience with regards to payments, Jones says, “We need the support of the entire community. We are looking for the community to work constructively on our part.”
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