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- Read full text of the 2017 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals
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Barbados Budget 2017
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456 responses to “Barbados Budget 2017”
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Yes same pls same old, 9 years of running the economy down the drain. BU recalls Sir Frank Alleyne very early in the DLP first term identified that structural fault lines had to be addressed. The question for the BU family is: has the government addressed the fault lines?
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Sinckler’s omissions are likely to be almost as devastating as his 10 % tax will be. FAILED!
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David
No fault line has been addressed.
Everybody knows where we have to go and what we have to do and all this govt is doing is juggling untill the election date.
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I guess that Grenville’s column will be cancelled from this week.
He failed to say anything really nasty about the Govt. and he didn’t praise the crooked Barbados Labour Party. DAVID don’t like that.
He has PRODIGAL doing a number as well. So bye, bye Grenville you have now broken DAVID’S rules: SAY SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT THE CROOKED Barbados LABOUR PARTY OR SAY SOMETHING NASTY ABOUT THE GOVT.
Be careful PRODIGAL you might get heart burn.
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“Yes! We have finally reached a stage again, (the first time since 2007) where most major economic sectors in Barbados – traded and non-traded- have begun to register growth, particularly in construction, where several stalled projects have finally started; international business and financial services; domestic exports; and wholesale and retail distribution”
MIN. OF FINANCE
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Artax
The principle is a good one.However many of these artisans are not guaranteed work. -
@Walter Blackman
Surely we need to hear from you?
How will the NIS be affected by the proposed debt restructuring/swap of government debt held with the NIS.
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The most outstanding thing about the budget presentation to Bushie was that Stinkliar seems to have had an epiphany on the concept of spending money. Most of the time was used in him excitedly explaining, in effect, that we need to move to a situation where we must earn what we spend…. duh!!!
Oh shirt!!!
…the damn man sounded almost as juvenile and idiotic as does Carson C Cadogan here on BU..Our ass is grass.
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@Gabriel
The BLP should be happy, do you see these artisans outside the taxnet voting BLP?
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Why is no one praising him for balancing the budget?
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@Hants May 30, 2017 at 7:43 PM #
Elections in October….trust me.I disagree. This budget is strictly to avoid another downgrade and hopefully the economy will recover enough to present an election budget before the election next year.
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Vincent
You really believe that non-sense about balancing the budget? He has made no provision in the budget for BDS$1.5M owed in arrears and he is recognizing US$100M in revenue/gain from the sale of BNTCL. This is pure fact-ing theatrics, nothing more.
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@Bajan in NY
Can you explain in a logical way how soaking money consumer spending power will lead to a recovery in the economy.
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Let me take this opportunity to remind all of Owen’s words that the country will collapse by the end of May 2017.
We are very near to the end of May 2017.
“We are IMF bound, warns Arthur”
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2017/03/15/we-are-imf-bound-warns-arthur/
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David
These artisans like the lawyers which the MOF will be pursuing would most likely be among the floating voters next time out.Last election they accounted for 40% no shows at the poll. -
Say what you will, we have entered uncharted political territory in Barbados.
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The private sector needs to step up!
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Carson
You recognize that $500 MILLION in taxes have been today been applied by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Sir Tax-A-Lot?
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Estimates for 2017-2018
Expected revenue ……………2,963,265,133
Expected expenditure………4,549,532,228
Deficit…………………………….1,586,267,095
Some balance this is!
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For the last two years or so the discussion has been about printing of money and the dangers of that and the growing debt. Now that we get a balanced budget which seems to try to avoid new money printing and new debt, there is no discussion of money printing or growing debt.
maybe we can debate the measures to get to a balanced budget, but can we avoid balanced or near balanced budgets to slow the debt build up and avoid money printing.
that either needs new revenue , expenditure cuts or some combination. pain either way. -
Carson C. Cadogan May 30, 2017 at 8:51 PM #
A winning budget.@@
The DBLP government are nothing more than full blooded crooks, liars, and scumbags,
All of you need to be sent home awaiting an inquest and leading to charges for your over price jail,
Every last lawyer needs to be in jail in this government, sorry asses, Crime is your way of life,No worry we know you may not have started this, we know it was under Mia and Owen, this massive land fraud, but the DLP need to expose her, Now the DLP will take some much-needed jackass licks for covering his this PONZI Fraud,
no worries if you lucky you can reach 22 downgrades like the terror attacks dates we have been seening on the net, Or the US will invade Barbados and remove your money laundering asses.Vote Bajan Free Party/CUP
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@Carson C. Cadogan May 30, 2017 at 9:47 PM #
I guess that Grenville’s column will be cancelled from this week.Grenville’s unpreparedness to discuss the financial statement when he spoke on the VOB post budget discussion was not good for him or his party. We can accept that he was too busy during the day to read or listen to the presentation of the financial statement, but one of his candidates or party members should have been able to shoulder the responsibility. Grenville has to be careful Solutions is not seen as a leader and 29 yes men and women.
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VOB steupse LOL the poster child and description of yardfowlism .Nobody that is really serious about news and information would in their right mind quote anything said on VOB The worst source for news and information there is. right down yard fowl alley.
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Government is proposing to establish a “comprehensive national fiscal, economic and social development restructuring and enhancement programme” by October this year, to guide decisions for a short, medium and long-term growth plan.
Delivering the 2017 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals on Tuesday, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler said the final touches were being put on the new programme
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Ha ha ha
LOL …. What a lotta shiite!!!Yet another ‘stink lie’ from the king of bullshit.
Practically every time he speaks, this man produces this kind of bullshit which, in other jurisdictions with normal people, would be laughed at in derision. ONLY in brass bowl land would such a con-man be able to persist with such simple-minded bullshit over and over and over…Bushie raised this Stinkliar habit YEARS ago after the third time he came on TV talking shiite about how Four Seasons “was restarting next month” …. after he “signed some papers on his desk”… Stinkliar has since gone on to use this tactic of ‘sending the Brass Bowls further’ on every single occasion that he has spoken….
It is always some ‘brilliant’ initiative “to be unveiled next month”… or ‘awaiting Cabinet approval’ … or ‘in the final stages of completion’….
A fool may fall for such bullshit on up to three occasions, …but brass bowls seem to just go on and on and on and on….
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Now awaiting to hear Mias rebuttal however would not be holding my breathe waiting for high expectations,
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Finally I am also in position to announce that in an effort to alleviate the backlog of VAT refunds which are owed to many businesses across Barbados and creating severe cash flow challenges for them, that I have advised the BRA to sit down with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Treasury, and the Central Bank of Barbados to design a simple but effective VAT factoring programme to attend to this issue of VAT refund arrears.
The details of this programme will be revealed shortly in the hope to get it started before October this year.
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Another roll of bullshit!!!Again, a lotta shiite words that says NOTHING.
“.. announce …an effort… to hold a ‘MEETING’? …. to create a “Vat factoring programme” (What the hell is THAT?) ….. and of course the ‘details will be revealed shortly in the HOPE to get started before October….”Yea… RIGHT!!!!
Lotta shiite!!!
Steupssss
Do we actually have journalists who actually read what this man says…? -
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2017/05/31/devalued/
the big D.
“Devalued!
Govt accused of virtually reducing the value of the Barbados dollarAdded by Emmanuel Joseph on May 31, 2017.
Saved under Budget, Politics
4
The dreaded ‘d’ word – devaluation – was floated again tonight as Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler’s 2017 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals came under immediate scrutiny from economists, Opposition politicians and a consumer rights advocate.Noted economist Jeremy Stephen said the decision to raise the National Social Responsibility Levy to ten per cent from two per cent when it was introduced last year, and the introduction of a two per cent tax on foreign exchange transactions were akin to devaluing the Barbados dollar.”
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A brilliant Budget
As was expected Minister Sinckler gave a very eruridite presentation in Parliament yesterday.
Mia Mottley would be hard pressed to do better.
Kudos to the minister and team DLP.
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The prevailing feeling is why wait until a year from a general election to go for the money grab? The answer is simple, the optics of it is to address concerns by the international credit ratings and financial institutions. He will obviously comeback in October to apply some Vaseline to the soreness.
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David
If the major unions don’t shut this place down, their members should leave in droves.
Sent from my iPad
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maybe the minister is facing up to the reality of no financing outside of central bank financing. it is a crisis budget. interesting that he would do it in an election year. i think it shows how tight the financing squeeze is.
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how do you upload a document to the blog?
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Bush Tea May 31, 2017 at 5:46 AM #
“Again, a lotta shiite words that says NOTHING. “.. announce …an effort… to hold a ‘MEETING’? …. to create a “Vat factoring programme” (What the hell is THAT?) ….. and of course the ‘details will be revealed shortly in the HOPE to get started before October….”
@ Bushie
Recall in 2015 during his budget presentation and in response to queries about the delays in people receiving income tax refunds, Sinckler said” “as we speak, 24,000 envelopes are being stuffed with tax refunds,” yet people are still awaiting their refunds for as far back as 2012 income year.
And even “a lot more shiite words” about the National Fiscal, Economic and Social Development Restructuring and Enhancement Programme:
“It will focus on a number of areas, including boosting the foreign exchange earnings “through creating more attractive conditions of foreign direct investment by the standardization of investment incentive regimes in an omnibus incentives legislation, and reforming the platform for implementing mechanisms across the public and private sectors.”
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After reviewing the major financial budget adjustments, to increase revenue, can only be evaluated as cloak and dagger DEVALUATION.
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BARBADIANS will from July this year be called upon to pay a two per cent commission on the sale of foreign exchange as Government looks to clamp down on the demand for foreign exchange.
This is among a suite of measures outlined yesterday by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler, to shore up the island’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves, tackle the deficit which he called public enemy number one, and to reduce Government’s dependence on financing from the Central Bank of Barbados.
The other measures include a proposal to sell the Hilton Hotel, increase the takings from the National Social Responsibility Levy, an increase in the Excise tax on gasoline and diesel, introduction of another Tax Amnesty, and some debt reprofiling
In a presentation, which lasted three hours and ten minutes, the Minister said that the measures introduced within the Budget set out to achieve two broad objectives: to move as close as possible to a Balanced Budget with a view to reducing the dependence on Central Bank financing and, secondly, to reduce the demand for foreign exchange.
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According to Sinckler, the two per cent charge on the sale of foreign exchange will extent “to inter alia, all wire transfers, credit card transactions, and over the counter sale of foreign currencies.
Government anticipates $52.5 million from the increase over the remainder of the current financial year and $140 million over a full year.
However, the biggest revenue-raising measure will be the National Social Responsibility Levy, which will be increased from two per cent to ten per cent. The Minister said that in the process, that tax imposition will realise some $291 million in a full financial year and $218 million for the remaining nine months of the financial year.
Sinckler said that Cabinet has also taken a decision to divest the the Hilton hotel in which the government is a majority shareholder. He revealed that the investment in Sam Lords Castle Resort is estimated to be in the range of BDS$500 million. “With this in mind, government believes that, in keeping with its policy to limit the number of hotel properties it holds, that now would be a good time to divest itself of the Hilton,” according to him.
The hotel is said to be worth just under BDS$200 million. Additionally, if that sale goes through government is expecting a boost to the country’s foreign reserves of $100 million.
He also stated that government had started the process of examining its portfolio of short and longer-term securities instruments to determine where and how any profiling of some of the interest on some of them could be done. Preliminary discussions have taken place between the Central Bank and the National Insurance Scheme and his Ministry expects $70 million in savings. That money would go to liquidate arrears to the NIS.
As for the Tax Amnesty, Sinckler said that figures from the last one indicate that just over $34 million was collected in outstanding taxes and that on this occasion the authorities are anticipating that an additional $25 million can be realised. (JB)Jewel Brathwaite
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Raising taxes without addressing the money-drain statutory corporations and income strangulation through lack of civil service facilitation is what has brought us to this point.
Same again then.
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Let us wait to see if the poor-rakey media players hold Sinckler and government accountable for not rationalizing the SOEs as promised. We know that it will not happen in an election year.
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You email it to BU. Check the top of the page under ‘send confidential message’.
Barbadosunderground@gmaildotcom
Replace dot with.
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Bashmentsoca “liked” the shiite Carson C. Cadogan wrote about the 25 charge on foreign exchange transactions.
Bashmentsoca is just as ignorant as Carson C. Cadogan. He/she is obviously a yard-fowl who probably did not understand anything in the Budget, but hailed it as “excellent” because it was delivered by the DLP.
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*******Bashmentsoca “liked” the shiite Carson C. Cadogan wrote about the 2% charge on foreign exchange transactions.
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Caswell, having a listen to Beckles last night he was not a happy camper. Clearly the push by Akani for a big increase for public workers will not happen. You will agree it was his campaign message?
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David
The crying shame is these men are only interested in buying more time, more time for them to keep doing their deals and earning their commissions.
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Interesting part of Sinckler’s presentation when he felt an explanation was required to detail all monies allocated under the heads are spent on Bajans. The piece he forgot was about governance and the Auditor General reports.
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It seems PWC shares my views:
there was limited focus on growth initiatives;
the proposed 2% commission on foreign
exchange transactions may send the wrong
signal to the market around the effective value
of the Barbados dollar;
a more broad-based policy signal to
divestment of state-owned assets was
expected;
there were very limited details on proposed
expenditure reductions; and
there were no proposals to implement
measures to improve business facilitation. -
They are buying time, a year’s worth of time.
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@ Frustrated B
Raising taxes without addressing the money-drain statutory corporations…..
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You have to admit however, that Stinkliar has been consistent.Is this not the same approach to the water situation? …where, with 50% leakage in the distribution network, their ‘solution’ has been to pay Bizzy handsomely for expensive deal water; … pay Baloney to build build a glitzy new headquarters, then fire all the staff who they had frustrated over the years – while the retarded, ancient chairman continues to mis-direct the whole shiite.
Same with the Central Bank – where they provide lavish incentives to Sandals – who keep their monies offshore and only bring the bare minimum here to pay local costs…
Same with Emera who have taken all the fat from BL&P and not invested in any long-term generation plant….
The man is an idiot, but to his credit, he does not seem to know this….. a case of someone who “knows not that he knows not”….
It is not his fault that we have chosen to follow him.
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“The private sector needs to step up!”
A wonderful public sector/Private sector budget.
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It is really amusing watching the antics of the BLP operatives on this blog.
I am looking forward to the theatrics of Mr. Mottley this evening. I hope that I have bought enough popcorn and cold beer.
This is going to be fun.
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Carson C. Cadogan May 31, 2017 at 7:16 AM #
“The private sector needs to step up!”The private sector has tried to step up several times and been kicked in the face each time – except for the bribe-payers, their success can be seen across the country. You people need to realise that Bajans are much more honest than you thought, the vast majority of us won’t pay your bribes.
More ‘turtling’ for us then. Continue to pull in assets, cash and effort and wait for the Fools to fuk off.
It is now up to the trade unions to put these clowns out of office. The private sector would happily march alongside for elections.
There will be no economic recovery under Fumbles’ Fools.
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New Bajan post budget menu
Breakfast…..Bakes and bush tea.
Lunch…..Cheese cutter and a sweet drink.
Dinner….. white rice with onion/salt butter gravy.
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.