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501 responses to “Barbados Budget 2013”
Are happy with the MoT’s contribution to the dabate?
just asking
“GEORGE BELLE wait late ………….”
but George is one of wunna people!
has been for eons!!!!!
Let me published something that I saw on FACEBOOK for you enlightenment:-
Read cousin George Belle’s comments today and must congratulate him for finally deciding to work for that $11 000 consultancy fee which he collected monthly from Government between 2002 and 2008.”
WADE GIBBONS
Someone PLEASE answer these questions
How long did it take Sen Todd to complete his degree?
Has Al Barrack been paid?
if not
How much is owed to him now considering the % imposed by the Court?
Is the government still borrowing $ 17 million to pay temp brought on since 2008?
Is there an audited report on money spent by Constituentcy CouncilS?
how much money is owed to employers by the VAT office?
I see MAM begging DLP Parliamentarians to vote with the BLP against the Budget proposals.
Is this the best that she can do?
hahahahahaha
It would be easier for she to like men than for this to happen.
Did Minister Kellman address the housing developments which remain abandoned by government?
David, I watched last night’s MOT contribution and I am afraid thought it was dismal. With all the genuine concerns in the tourism industry NOT being addressed, I would have thought he would have stayed with his portfolio. He is also VERY badly briefed. The mention of Thomson flying the Dreamliner ONLY to Barbados and the DR in the region is nonsense.
It will also operate to Cuba (Holguin flights 18069/70). Jamaica (Montego Bay flights 18092/3) Cancun and Aruba. And no mention of the double drops involving St. Lucia and Antigua. These are little things, but it reinforces that he does not research the subject.
ADRIAN LOVERIDGE
If you had said anything different it would have come as a shock to all of us.
I guess DASS is wrong and ADRIAN is right.
Man ADRIAN disappoint me sometimes nuh.!!!!!!!
David,we are doing piece on these ‘events’ in the Parliament. But we wonder which world these people are living in. Certainly, can’t be that of 2013. For example, you have both sides talking about ‘foreign reserves’, in the old ways, at a time when countries are fighting to repatriate gold reserves deposits surreptitiously appropriated by the FED after Bretton Woods. When China is very active in the gold markets. When the US dollar is facing the end of its reign as an international medium of exchange and the other ‘major’ currencies are no better off. Where countries are increasingly exchanging real resources for gold. Or maybe, we are the ones that are mad and the Einsteins in Parliament are the sane ones. Otherworldly, you say!
Got a chance to listen to some of the budget debate as Mia Mottley and Sanita Bradshaw spoke. It was surprising given its international prominence Mia never touched on the raging gay debate. Miss Bradshaw lacks personality she is robotic in her delivery unlike Mia who is replete with overdone with hand and finger gesticulations and head movements. The constituents in Miss Bradshaw’s constituency the Pine must wonder why she spent most of her “contribution” speaking about St. Lucia. They are in the Pine scrunting, the youth, the jobless interspersed with the druggies and bad boys and their representative praises another island for forty five minutes with no mention of their problems or aspirations. Pele Bradshaw daughter must do better. Thannis should have beaten her and the House would have a member superior in intellect and contribution.
The same thing happen with Mascol, he was the worst thing on Earth for the Barbados Labour Party until he joined your ranks, mind you he is still the same man!
trying my very best to keep out the political diatribe but have to remind you ccc that Mr Mascoll was the best thing that happened to the DLP when he was their leader and economic guru and now the worst thing since he crossed the floor after having been unceremoniously pushed out.
balance
Come on.
No one “unceremoniously pushed out” Mascol the one time “co-leader” of the Barbados Labour Party in front 0f Mia, he left.
It was his own free will!!
1. | August 15, 2013 at 2:29 AM |
@Baffy. While lawyers of the calibre of Freundel Stuart (DLP) et al (in other words, lawyers who left highly successful and lucrative practices to serve their country – and took massive pay cuts in so doing) are most necessary and vital and we owe a great debt to them,
I have to assume that the above is a slip of the lip , Mr Amused?
How can the Nation newspaper claim to be fair and give columns to known BLP supporters every day of the week to bash the government?
The BLP should be made to pay for Clyde Mascoll’s weekly column because it obviously is a political article .
No one “unceremoniously pushed out” Mascol the one time “co-leader” of the Barbados Labour Party in front 0f Mia, he left.
It was his own free will!!
come on ccc; not even the blind would see it that way.
I will bet you a million US dollars that Albert Branford and Pat Hoyos will lambaste the government for taking bold and necessary steps to cut expenditure after lamenting about the deficit for years.
On Sunday, all Barbados will see the blatant editorial bias at work with the one sided criticism of Branford and Hoyos.
Peter Wickham will obviously use the opportunity to continue his vendetta against PM Stuart after his departure from CBC.
It is interesting our BCCI is headed bybVaswani and Abed. Two men located in the retail and distributive sectors.
The BLP should be made to pay for Clyde Mascoll’s weekly column because it obviously is a political article .
That is nothing new. Why do you want to change the modus operandi now? Did Glyne Murray or Irene SANDIFORD-GARNER OR DENNIS KELLMAN OR GUYSON MAYERS PAY FOR THEIRS? Does Mr ALBERT Brandford pay for his? The issue is whether there is merit in Mr Mascoll’s articles.
@ Carson C. Cadogan | August 15, 2013 at 7:29 AM |
“I guess DASS is wrong and ADRIAN is right.”
Is this the same “DASS” whom only a few weeks ago you were racially abusing with your xenophobic venomous tongue and questioning her credentials, immigration and otherwise to demand of or tell this DLP administration what to do?
You see what we told you, CC,C the white man has you where he wants you to do as he demands.
If Adrian were to start cussing the BLP and praising your MoT tomorrow he would suddenly be like Jesus Christ returned to save Barbados tourism industry.
You are just one screwed-up mentally enslaved black fool with a massive white monkey on your back.
Yours truly,
Uncle Tommy Miller.
http://youtu.be/ZavIdtY9jLE
Observer, what about the implementation deficit which all governments have a track record so far. Some of the initiatives announced by government ave some aggressive timelines.
@ Observer
“For the vast majority of students the entire degree will cost US $7,500.”
More like US $9900 for a 3 year degree, excluding other costs like books, transportation, food, and so on. Your tuition fees number was off, and you forgot to include the guild and amenities fees.
“As it is stands now based on the current financial information for 2013-2014 (which may change for the next academic year), the lowest amount students would be expected to pay annually (Faculties of Humanities/Sciences/Social Sciences) would be $980 + $5625 for a total of $6605.”
Those prices have been creeping up over time. They might even increase more than usual now since UWI could need the funds to fill the gap left by the drop in registrations bound to happen next year to support its normal activities.
“I fail to see how asking students to pay 16% of the cost of university education in a country at barbados’ stage of development constitutes a major setback to access”
Forgot to add that if you do the maths that comes out to 19% and not 16%. Just for reference the full cost would have been US $52140
Observer | August 15, 2013 at 6:53 AM |
“The SSA has been addressed with the 0.7% land tax, transport board’s budget has been cut by 15ml and qeh cut by 35ml so uwi has not been singled out.”
Why are you not dealing with the constituency councils’ budget?
What about the PM’s office where there is a large budget for defence and security of $68 million expected to increase to $83 million next financial year? Can’t some temporary cut be made in that area instead of health?
It really comes as a shock to see how you can make such a volte-face regarding the need to come up with a financially viable model for funding the UWI in which students and parents/guardians/sponsors would be required to “buy” a greater stake into the their own investment in tertiary education.
Is this the same Observer that cast hot water on such an idea when it was mooted previously referring to it as a form of privatization which you and the DLP administration was vehemently opposed to?
Now come on, Observer, deny that you were ever opposed to such a proposal to get students to take greater ownership of their tertiary education funding arrangements.
Deny also that you were ever opposed to any set of policies involving privatization and outsourcing of any social functions presently undertaken by the government.
We await your response with bated breath.
education
the one thing that you should not mess with
harsh economic times
yes
what you do /how you react/important
take a blind swipe at the ball or
play a carefully guided /well controlled shot
DLP has now shown tthat there are
acting very stupidly
should be recalled
should be ——————-
————————————–
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaagga
Miller
Man think before you write. It is impossible for me to be “racially abusing” anybody.
Scaper
Where else in the world can you get a quality University education for $6605 per year?
Scraper
Also remember it was Hilary Beckles who suggested the $5000. 00 plus figure.
Brief quick comments, the MoF admitted
– the MTFS was based on an overly optimistic premise and it failed
– the recession and it’s impact cannot be blamed on either B or D
– the plummet in forex is currently inexplicable but could be attributed to investor confidence
Which means
– the GoB chose the partially flawed strategy (one path) and failed to course correct mid-stream
– the constant blaming of the BLP is superficial and really irrelevant
– there’s no guarantee that forex won’t continue to leak as it ALWAYS has for the last 3-4 years. (David, you can confirm my question months ago about this)
Now, the MoF’s solution is to trim the deficit on the expenditure side since revenue will continue to be down since
– tourism continues to be down
– int’l biz remains flat
– other sectors have flat lined
– inflows have slowed
So we
– introduce a few taxes
– slash subsidies and transfers
– make uwi students pay
– hint at merging statuatory bodies
While
– incentivising tourism
– banking on long term renewable energy savings
– praying for agriculture and
– hoping that major projects kick off soon
But,
– we’ve heard the “projects soon start” promise before
– the MoF has failed to keep MANY promises in the past
– investor and economic confidence is still very low
– the middle class once again holds the major grind
So
– ppl will continue not purchasing and paying taxes and thus revenue will be lower than targeted as per usual
– unemployment will increase slowly as a result of the freeze (bare in mind that it’s the current size that gave us balance of payment problems) and the fact that the private sector “aint hiring a boy”
– new job creation will be pigeon holed in 1-2 sectors causing an inevitable shift in the labour market and a longer term impact on educational planning
– some persons will be turned off at having to pay “suddenly” for uwi and may opt for easier ways to earn cash than “decent employment based on
– major internal adjustments will be needed to mitigate the budget cuts to corporations as well as the goods and services bill
In summary, we all know a bitter pill had to be taken. The prevailing view though is that the doctor should have given us the vitamin C supplements to stave of the flu 2-3 years ago when our immune system was dropping, rather than always saying we were ok (read stable) and instead now forcing us on a regimen of antibiotics, bad tasting cough syrup and nasal sprays. Note, some illnesses aren’t cured, they run their course. It’s how you treat yourself and the symptoms while they’re ongoing. If only the GoCB and the MoF had recognised this in 2010 at least we’d be having a reasonable and decent national conversation.
Too late shall be their cry. The social dislocation as a result of the austerity measures and current economic conditions will (continue to) happen, albeit at a slower and less visible pace. If tangible attention is not paid to it as much as is being paid to the “deficit”, then may God continue to be with us even moreso than she has been in the years to come.
Pragmatic, practical and purposeful decisions are needed.
Strong, decisive and visible leadership is a must
Frank, honest and pointed communication is a necessity.
Just Observing
@Amused
How insulting of you to include Maurice King, Freundel Stuart and Sleepy Smith among highly successful lawyers who gave up their practice for ‘national service’.Maurice King had one term and called it quits.Sleepy called it quits not once but twice!Stuart?Please give me a break.That incompetent also ran lawyer who does’nt even deserve a QC?As VS Naipaul said in ‘A House for Mr Biswas’ ..if ‘e get one dog case and one cuss case a week ‘e aw right ya know.That can never be the hallmark of a good lawyer!Tek way dem names man Amused.I am not convinced atall,atall,atall.
Amused
My problem with what you’ve written is the use of words like “lucrative” and “sucessful” … You see I, as a “citizen” of Barbados, am still challenged to attach true significance to the word citizen.
I am for ALL intents and purposes limited to being viewed as a mere member of the “consuming public” by policy setters and as such am targetted by the likes of those who operate the “lucrative and sucessful” operations. They exploit people lilke me and their track records show that they are indeed very good at it. People like me only represent the food on their plates, and this is perhaps why they all claim to have a desire to “give something back” (perhaps through service as a Rotarian, for example or in Parliament) .
No Amused, I am not that impressed that the names called were suffucuently involved with the recognition of a citizenry over the exploitation of a market.
prediction that sometime in the future
St.Lucia will be called upon to help Barbados
in some form /fashion
economically/civil service/cricket/training /police
something
tourism issues ?
maybe
DLP Govt= epic fail
So dont bash Santia for talking/St. Lucia
St. Lucia coming
Barbados/going/it seems
———————————-
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaagga -again !
“the brutal attacks on the DLP by the nation newspaper ” – a direct quote from Mara Thompson during her excellent speech in the budget debate.
Every one can agree with Mrs. Thompson that the Nation is being used by BLP operatives to launch a daily propaganda war on the minds of Barbados.
DLP has consstently hammered Bajans
Whats new
Bajans hammered by DLP
1968-75
1986-91
1991-94
2008- present
economic /wreck /with the DLP
Bajans like um suh !
Question
Who got the biggest balls ?
—————————-
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaagga again + again
Why this woman don’t shut her trap? She could afford to support her party position to make students pay tuition at UWI as she has no problem with money. What her husband did not get illegally from the poor policy holders of CLICO, she gets from the same poor taxpayers of this country as he made sure he died in office so as to guarantee that she was rich for life.
Woman, shut your trap up! Talking petty politics does not become you! Attacking the Nation, the DLP’s usual boggeyboy! Wow, she actually used her half hour???
David
A piss poor Budget, both in content and presentation save for Mia whom I thought delivered some very devasting blows to the Stuart Administration. This is the worst debate I have witnessed, Owen was right the Parliament is poor rackey.
Look at the obvious bias in the coverage of the budget so far by the Nation newspaper. I urge Starcom when they are assembling any panels not to include known BLP supporters like Pat Hoyos, Sanka Price and Charles Tibbits and call them independent.
It is a strategy used by the BLP to have its members in strategic positions and the public thinks that they are getting independent analysis.eg:
Mia Mottley’s campaign manager Lynette Holder of the SBA, Douglas Skeete of the Corporate Shareholder’s association,etc.
Let us get fair and balanced debate. The Nation and Starcom owe the people better and not to let one side monopolise the programme as has been the case in the past.
The response of the chief BLP leader yesterday in the House of Assembly has left much to be desired.
This is a country that is facing its worst material financial times in its post-independence history and yet the most that Miss Mottley in reply to the Government’s budgetary proposals is to inveigh against the proposed measure to bring about UWI tuition contributions and to say that it would be reversed by a future BLP government.
So rather than look at the fact that there is a serious need for those who are attending to make direct reasonable and proportionate contributions to the cost of THEIR OWN education at that level Mottley, prefers to indulge in the issue in an almost pure partisan emotional manner, with a sense of propagating this very chronic dependency culture.
To say that education has done more for Barbados than bauxite oil, gas, gold and bauxite has done for a number of countries in this region is completely outlandish emotional.
For, if the thought is that these and other countries have largely got colonial western ideological indoctrination it must mean that with Barbados being in the very disastrous material financial state that it is now, that this so-called education has not only been one of the multifarious means through which the dominants in western oligarchic society have over the years been able to use to substantially exploit Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and many other countries of this region, but also has been one of the many means of bringing ideological political control – to the maximum outrageous benefits of those dominants – of the many resources, assets and money of the peoples of the countries of this region to very disgustingly and inevitably distressing and dedevelopment states of disorganization.
This is something that Mottley, as a former education minister, under Owen Arthur-led BLP government should and must have known.
Now, what uniquely Barbadian have many Barbadians contributed to the field of really global regional education?
PDC
@ NationBLPnewspaper
” I urge Starcom when they are assembling any panels not to include known BLP supporters like Pat Hoyos, Sanka Price and Charles Tibbits and call them independent.”
If Starcom or any media included them on a panel and presented them as “independent” it would be dishonest. I do recall Douglas Skeete of the Corporate Shareholder’s Association being presented as some kind of independent spokesperson and then I believe seeking nomination for a constituency of one of the political parties.
As an aside, how many members in that “Association”?
David
“It is interesting our BCCI is headed by Vaswani and Abed. Two men located in the retail and distributive sectors.”
Interesting observation.
I wonder how much of the dwindling forex reserves are being used by Abeds and the shops in Vaswani’s mall to pay for the import of goods made in China. The loans/investements from China are simply recycling the money spent in Barbados (by Bajans and visitors) on goods made in China. The Chinese will eventually control the country.
Found this bit of info:
The Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (founded 1825) is a voluntary non-profit organisation of business people established under an Act of Parliament . The organisation was renamed Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry on April 4th, 1983 to reflect its expanded role and to embrace the rapidly growing manufacturing sector at the time.
Where are the rapidly growing manufacturers today
I am totally impressed with Dr. Agard’s speech. To my mind, I will say it was one of the best speeches from a first timer. It was professionally rendered.
Quite noticably absence is the distant between the BLP yardfowls/and any comments favourable or otherwise of MIA response to the BUDGET. Very telling indeed. However ac contends that her response was nothing more than her usual walks up and down Swan street all that was missing was the backdrop. On this one she was really out of her league mostly relying on campaign propganda instead of a message to inspire
@ Observer
Why do you feel the need to interject basic common sense into this debate and spoil it?
Bajans deserve FREE world class services such as university education and health – even though first world countries cannot afford such.
The government should find money from somewhere to fund these things – even though no one else is willing to lend us any more, and our lenders want their past loans repaid…you expect people to actually be required to contribute 16% to their OWN education..?
…you MAD!?!?
No doubt this makes sense to most Bajans….
..After all what do you think a brass bowl is…?
….man leff de people with their bitching doo….!
It’s obvious one way or another if the government does not cut spending like it was warned to over 5 years ago, foreign agencies will have no choice but to come in and do it for them, it had to be done, it is late in the game but the trick now will be how it is implemented going forward. They (the politicians) love to give pretty speeches and then sit back and expect every problem to resolve itself, different ballgame.
To reiterate, i suggest they think twice about handing over money to minority business people without proper monitoring, money for refurbishment of hotels should not be spent buying overly expensive BMWs and Mercedes nor sending their offsprings to expensive schools abroad, it’s time to monitor how the taxpayers money is being spent…….appoint monitors who are not yardfowls affiliated with any party and who cannot be bribed by those who already have a lock on the cash flow on the island or by greedy amoral politicians.
There is more to the proposal to make Bajans pay tuition fees at the UWI than just to help out with the fiscal black hole this government finds itself in.
This is just the thin edge of the wedge to rationalize the entire UWI across the region.
It is the goal of the high level decision makers to make the UWI a ‘two-campus’ tertiary level educational institution. It is strongly felt that with the expansion of online teaching and learning on the ever expanding technologically advancing ICT platform there would be less and less requirement for duplicating physical plant and resources spread across the geographically small area of the English-speaking Caribbean that make up the student pool for the university.
The UWI is about to enter a different phase of consolidation and preparation for a more streamlined role in a fast growing competitive commercially oriented teaching and learning market place. It either prepares itself accordingly or be prepared to go the way of the once powerful sugar and banana industries.
What is even worse about Miss Mottley’s very injudicious statement that education had done more for Barbados than oil, gas, bauxite and gold had done for the countries she named, is that comparing “education” in Barbados over the years, with oil, gas, bauxite and gold from the named countries, is improper and unsound, logically speaking, as that, whereas one – education – is a service, the others – oil, gas, bauxite, and gold – are products.
What illusory risible thinking coming from the Opposition Leader in the Parliament of Barbados!!
PDC
Miller…………..UWI Barbados was only just recently given some type of temporary accreditation while the others catch up, with what has transpired in the world, they are way behind in preparing students from Barbados for the new system, i suggest they start some serious research and reading on how to proceed on the way forward. The shift is real.
Both the government and Opposition failed Barbadians in this budget. To be honest BU is speechless. We are going no where. And to be frank the BU household is turned off by the comments from the usual suspects. We just don’t get it.
David, AGAIN it comes down to implementation.
The reduction in VAT to the ‘hotel sector’ and Direct Tourism Services is good, but the allocation of a further BDS$100 million to the BTA makes no sense whatsoever, unless the funds are available shortly and the loan has not even been negotiated yet. Plus to give them another BDS$100 million over the next 18 months, before there is any restructuring of the BTA defies any logic whatsoever. US$13 million to pay ALL outstanding BTA bills , when the Carnival Destiny loan was US$15 million alone.
What does this mean?
Plus one of the 10 point-plan announced last month was to introduce a APD Voucher into the UK market. WHEN and who will pay for this?
16 consecutive months of long stay visitor decline, with September coming up, which is historically the lowest month of arrivals. There will be hundreds, no make that THOUSANDS of empty airline seats and hotel rooms next month.
Well at least there were proposals made from govt whether all agreed or not can be debated can,t say the same about the oppsition.. however miller seem to be doing a halfway decent job for the opposition in his rambuncious response to the BUDGET .i meaning getting mad at the usual suspects is not the answer .
PDC ?