BVI one of two OTs operating without deficit budget
Now that the House of Assembly has passed the 2022 budget, Labour & Immigration Minister Vincent Wheatley said the Virgin Islands is one of two British Overseas Territories operating without a deficit budget going into the new fiscal year.
Wheatley said it is especially important to operate a country without a deficit budget during a pandemic as it will ease some of the burdens the government faces.
“Some persons may look at that and say it’s no big deal. What’s the big deal with a deficit budget? But these have consequences. You do not want to be in a deficit budget during a pandemic. One member had said you can’t run a country on the backs of the businesses and the taxpayers. You also cannot be foolish during a pandemic because a pandemic does not have a start date and an end date,” Wheatley said.
“You cannot compare a pandemic to a hurricane. You know when a hurricane is coming and it lasts a few hours and it’s very finite, so to speak. But when you are dealing with a pandemic, this is the worse one in over 100 years. You have to be very prudent how you handle a budget,” the Labour Minister added.
The first-term legislator also commended Premier Andrew Fahie on the approach he took with this year’s budget. He said there will never be enough money in any country to complete everything the government and the people want to accomplish.
The minister used the United States as an example whom he said had to print actual cash to offset some of its crippling debt.
“If you have been following the news in the US in the last couple of months; you see how much money they had to print. They did not print hundreds of millions; they went into the billions. In the BVI we don’t print money, we can’t print money. Therefore, we have to be very prudent on how we choose to spend our money,” he said.
“No matter what priorities you choose to do; someone will always say, oh you should have done that as opposed to that. Anything you do someone can criticise. It’s not for us to criticise what was chosen to be done but to make sure whatever we chose to do, we get maximum benefits from. Whether it be education, health, fishing or farming,” Wheatley added.
The final approved budget amounts to $397,174,331. This will comprise of $336,964,300 for recurrent expenditure; $39,402,900 for capital expenditure; $5,847,631 in contribution to various statutory funds; and $14,959,500 towards repayment of the principal on debt.
Premier Fahie emphasised that his administration is taking steps to ensure that the BVI meets its requirements outlined in his budget address by the end of the 2022 financial year.
With the 2022 budget estimates now passed, the government is now positioned to move forward with its public programmes and key infrastructure projects.
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That is why we giving this government another 4 years
Man go comment on your own site !!!
Over a billion dollars already blown and nothing to show for it
Despite recent governments, not because of; look at the CoI evidence.
Where did the billions go the Government received since 1984? What do we have to show for it?
This Guy is not being truthful, if the Government had meet its Budget estimates it would not have so many outstanding bills, unless its not willfully paying its bills.
The scary part is these f**king idiots actually believe they are doing a good job running these islands.
Wonder why the identity of the other territory has not been revealed. Must be another Secret.
I know Premier Albert is a former math teacher but this is pure bush maths if you ask me. We are 40M in debt so with the borrowing in past and at present and an alarming recurrent expenditure how do they amount to these BS figures?
Could you explain where the 65 million relief fund monies DISAPPEARED to?? That was started since HL days for a rainy day and Irma was our rainy day and no relief funds in sight cause past greedy Governments chipped away at it. This relief fund is the same reason Gov. Gus lost his $hit with BVI Government and the independent auditor!! Borrow the same amount from SSB and also CDB but still up to yet can’t replace the relief fund monies. The unaccountability for missing relief fund monies is a main reason WHY past elected officials should MAKE A JAIL.
Ayo can fool some of the people but not ALL the people. GTFOH!!!
Sorry but surely if you owe outstanding bills you have a deficit?? Has the Govt paid all its outstanding payables?? I feel this is another smoke and mirrors act happening. IF we are not in a deficit pay everything you owe.
I call BS.
The Hon Vincent ‘ Butch’ Wheatley, R-9, Minister of Natural Resources and Labour, should know better. He is furthering the false and common notion that the US crank up its printing press and print money to cover its debt or deficit. No, it does not.
The Federal Reserve controls the money supply in the US but it does not own a printing press and determines how many bills are printed each year. The Department of the Treasury Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) prints money in the US. The Feds tells BEP how much money to print.
The Feds increasing the money supply through a process call quantitative easing. Under this ptogramme, the Feds purchases several trillion dollars of financial securities, ie, mostly government bonds, pumping more money into the economy. It is a myth that US just prints money. True, the US dollar is FIAT money; up to several decades ago, the US dollar was backed by gold but it is no more on the gold standard.
The Honorable Vincent Oneal is more than the Minister of Natural Resources and Labour; he is also a diplomat, representing the BVI and its people with his words, actions, behaviors, etc. Mr. Oneal should be very familiar with US fiscal and monetary policies, for the the US dollar is the sole tender currency of the territory having been so since 1967. Further, the BVI does not have a central or reserve bank, so it cannot control the currency. Whatever gyrations the US dollar goes through it must live with.
By contrast, the Eastern Caribbean states has a central bank, viz, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank headquartered in Basseterre, St. Kitts with the EC dollar as the currency. Jurisdiction include: St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Dominica, Anguilla, and Montserrat.
I’m curious who the second OT who doesn’t have a deficit and how we’re they able to manages such a tall task?