BVI News

Amount spent on COVID close to BVI’s annual budget

Premier Andrew Fahie. (GIS photo)

Premier Andrew Fahie has revealed that the government has spent more than $300 million to keep the BVI safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Premier, who was speaking in the House of Assembly, said this amount was spent during the last 13 months.

That figure given by the Premier may be considered substantial when compared to the territory’s 2021 budget which is $402,132,046.

The Premier said despite the amount spent to keep the territory safe, some persons have been trying to undermine the good work of the government by pointing out projects that haven’t been undertaken by the government.

And Premier Fahie said one of the major reasons for the huge government spending over the last 13 months is the government’s decision to keep public officers hired.

“Why $300 million? Because we kept every single public officer hired and that was a challenge. We had so many meetings of finance when things could have gone either way. But I told them no matter what, we’d keep all the public officers hired because the private sector is experiencing enough pressure,” Premier Fahie said.

Heavy burden to bear

He also pointed out that during the height of the COVID pandemic, he carried the burden as the territory’s leader when the matter of retaining all public officers was examined.

“There’s a lot I have not said because when you’re leading you have to carry a lot of load yourself and just put it at the foot of the cross. I went home many nights concerned during the thickness of COVID last year [wondering] if we were going to keep our public officers hired. We weathered that storm thanks be to God and we’re still weathering it. There are those who want to put that on the side as if it is nothing at all,” Premier Fahie added.

He drew examples of other countries around the world that have cut the pay of public officers in a bid to balance the government’s books.

“We’re so focused on only the problems that we’re missing where the blessings are,” Fahie added.

The Fahie administration has been praised for keeping the BVI’s COVID-19 infections and death rate among the lowest in the world. But the government has faced heavy criticism for the economic shutdown which brought tourism to a standstill and multiplied the economic hardship of many businesses in the community. 

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32 Comments

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  1. tainui says:

    Wouldn’t the salaries of all the public employees have been accounted for in the budget anyway?

    Like 52
    Dislike 1
    • Budget says:

      A budget is only an estimate of what is expected to be spent and what is expected to be received. That does not mean that the money is sitting in a bank account

      Like 4
      Dislike 11
      • @Budget says:

        That is NOT the point! The point is COVID did not stop Government business so to say you spent $300 mil on COVID when that money was spent on Government operations is flat out bulls**t which is the poster’s point. The Premier is desperately trying to get people on his side because he knows full well what the COI will mean for his administration but too little, too late.

        Like 49
        Dislike 2
    • So says:

      And this is what we call negative spending. Money in versus money out, if it’s less, than your government did not spend it per budget and unwisely lost your money.

      How do they make up the difference? Well they tax you of course. Note the new port fees. An attempt to scheister you for another dollar.

      Get ready to pay more. For everything.

      Be a good citizen, pay your taxes, and sit down…

    • Exactly says:

      I have never heard this level of nonsense coming from an elected official. How could the spending be as a result of retaining government workers when they were already accounted for?

      Like 16
  2. Biggest mistake says:

    The biggest political mistake the BVI has ever made was to make Andrew the Premier. There is no one that can convince me that it was not his disrespectful behaviour to the Queen’s representative that played a major role in this COI being called. Now he has caused a problem for the whole country with the possibility of our constitution being suspended. And what is worse he has not learnt anything. He is still running his mouth with his shallow political games not realizing the bigger picture. He is a symbol of what not to be as a leader… Biggest mistake we have made!

    Like 54
    Dislike 8
    • @Biggest mistake says:

      Speak for your own foolish self. The same few set of people blogging on this site every day all day against Fahie but it will not work.

      Like 3
      Dislike 15
  3. Sabbatical says:

    Would have been a better choice for 20-50% of the civil service who did not have much to do during the closed border period.

    Like 18
  4. what???? says:

    but wa da geh spend on……?

  5. Winner winner! says:

    I believe if the world held a contest for who could tell the most untruth that the crown will come right here to the BVI. The man in the picture above would win hands down.

    Like 35
    Dislike 1
  6. Definitely a point says:

    If we are throwingvaroind carelessly, (since Irna) the catch phrases of #OneBvi, and #BviLove and the like, and considering Religiosity so deeply ingrained in our DNA,it seems politicians andvsome civil servants, especially the highly paid, (if I can say that)salaries could have been reduced; say for 3 to 6 months. The rest of us the majority was sibjected to that anyway. Besides, the country and economy were hardly operational anyway,
    with hardly any activity.
    PS. Most people rather get paid for the work they do and the things accomplished and solutions the they work to provide.

    Like 10
  7. LG says:

    We are pointing out projects that BVI should not be doing, like Drag Racing strip and Airport expansion

    Like 35
  8. WoW says:

    This guy serious?

    Like 28
    Dislike 1
  9. @ ASKING says:

    Would ( andy D great one ) please enlighten people of this country by giving us a break down on those figures AND PLEASE NOT IN OVERDRIVE ~ Tthank you in advance

    Like 23
  10. Hmmmm says:

    So every business here in the BVI will have an easy time completing their 2020 official accounts then? Anything March onwards can be pushed under ‘COVID SURVIVAL’ and that’s that. What a f**king lun****!

    Like 19
    Dislike 2
  11. Insanity ....... says:

    That deeply offensive and condescending arrogance you show towards the private sector all while pandering for political capital is nothing short of disgusting. This charlatan’s logic is beyond pathetic, and to claim it was God’s doing when it was the ‘devil’ himself (our leader) that robbed the tax payer’s treasury for the single purpose or retaining votes with Government employees at the expense of so many more. A lot of Government employees sat at home, with minimal work, on full pay, while the rest of us tax paying fools paid for your toxic cool-aid drinking civil servants to relax and criticize the rest of us, while you sell them on believing you had the country on the right path! All they had to do was sit at home, eat, drink, pay for their internet, and click their critiques about how those of us in the private sector were selfish, and trying to find ways to bring us down, as we scratched for a living amongst the rocks!
    Quite frankly you disgust me!

    Like 46
    Dislike 2
    • LB says:

      And keep the economy going. Had their salaries been cut then the economy would crumble. Our economy, based on Tourism, isn’t strong enough to sustain a zero Tourism bubble and a cut public service. Stop worrying about who was working from home.

      Dislike 13
  12. PLATINUM says:

    BUT IN THE ESSENCE OF THIS, WERENT PUBLIC OFFICERS GIVEN RAISES? WE NEED AN AUDIT

    Like 22
    Dislike 1
  13. hmm says:

    If its one thing… Whenever you see some outrageous stuff like this in the news more and more it seeming to always be a Vincentian… What wrong with them buddy?

  14. WEW says:

    Thats $ 820,000.00 a day ! NO WAY ! They’re hiding something real big. Maybe it the loss of drug money income or they just took it home. DO they honestly think we’re that stupid to believe this ?

    Like 26
    Dislike 1
  15. Secret Bear says:

    There you have it. We’ve bankrupted ourselves and destroyed our future for a mild respiratory virus that may have killed a few elderly, sick people who would have died soon anyway. Meanwhile, the bodies are STILL piling up due to poverty, despair and violence and thanks to Covid, we don’t have the money to do anything about it. How do you guys like being useful idiots in the CCP’s plot to take over the world? Fools.

    Like 7
    Dislike 4
  16. Tim says:

    That is fighting COVID-19?

    You kept spending in gov officials, money you would have spent no matter what. That is not COVID fighting …

    Closing the boarders is not expensive, you won’t be getting credit from anyone other than … yourself.

    People of the bvi, you got serious issue and premier who seems to mostly focusing on himself and how great he is…

    Like 23
  17. PT9 says:

    Premier Andrew Fahie, You are a waste of time, we all know what you did.

    Like 23
  18. itstime says:

    Trying to be smart but not clever.

    Like 14
  19. heckler says:

    Most of that money was spent on useless barges, useless consultants, useless bodyguards and the list goes on and on.

    Like 24
    Dislike 1
  20. SLAP IN THE FACE says:

    COME ON ANDREW. THIS IS A SLAP IN OUR FACE.

    PEOPLE OF THE BVI WAKE UP.

    WHY WOULD HE SPEND SO MUCH MONIES TO KEEP GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES HIRED? THIS MONEY WAS ALREADY BUDGETED FOR FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

    ANDREW IS TRYING TO COVER UP HIS BAD SPENDING AND MISUSED OF OUR MONIES.

    TO DATE, PERSONS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY HAVE NOT GOTTEN MONIES FROM THE STIMULUS MONIES, BUT GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES BENEFITED GREATLY. THIS IS SO UNFAIR.

    THE MONIES WERE NOT DISTRIBUTED EVENLY AS SOME PERSONS GOT $5,000, OTHERS GOT $10,000 AND THE NUMBERS INCREASED ACCORDING TO WHO YOU ARE.

    ANDREW IS BLATANTLY LOOKING AT US AS IDIOTS AND PLAYING US FOR FOOLS.

    WHEN IS ELECTION? THIS IS THE WORST GOVERNMENT IN HISTORY. WE HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE AND MAKE A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER AND TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY.

    BVI LOVE

    Like 29
    Dislike 1
  21. Smh says:

    He couldn’t run a supermarket, how do yall expect him to run a country?

    Like 20
    Dislike 1
  22. Accountant says:

    Talk is cheap. Show me all of the financial statements with supporting documents. Put up or shut up Mr. Mathematician Premier.

  23. @ @ biggest mistake says:

    You are so right / he is doing a fine job all by himself /along with all those Canaries who got his back as the choir herd like yourself

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