Two events occurred this month that should concern ALL Barbadians.
Event #1
The following extract is taken from a press release by Dr Justin Robinson published on September 29, 2017 in his capacity as Chairman of the National Insurance Scheme.
…Today, with the economy projected to grow by around 1.75% and the deficit expected to be 4.0% or less, we have yet another downgrade. How does this make any sense?… Barbados Underground blog
The following extract is taken from the local press attributed to Chris Sinckler, Minister of Finance on October 3, 2017.
…he [MoF] told reporters that growth was more likely to be in the range of 0.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent in 2017…Barbados Underground blog
Event #2
The following extract is taken from a press report on the October 6, 2017.
…I believe the figure so far is just short of $50 million, which, if you were to multiply it by the four quarters, would give you just around $200 million [for the year],” Sinckler told Parliament, adding that the final intake would be even higher after the Barbados Revenue Authority counts the additional Value Added Tax (VAT) earned on the NSRL…CBC website.
The following extract is taken from a press report on October 9, 2017.
…Last Tuesday, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler reported to the House of Assembly that the NSRL, increased from two per cent to ten per cent on July 1, had contributed “just short of $50 million” to Government’s coffers in a quarter and was projected to inject $200 million over a year.
However, in the wake of that revelation, Stuart is reported to have said he did not have all the financial data from that quarter and would speak to the takings when he had received such information…Nation newspaper
The three actors involved – Freundel Stuart, Chris Sinckler and Justin Robinson – occupy three of the most important positions in the country as prime minister, minister of Finance and Chairman of the National Insurance Scheme. The thought that they would not be reading from the same page is a worry to BU. Note the timeline shows the statements to be four days apart. So far we have not picked up any explanation why three key players in government are communicating different messages.
What the hell is going on?
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