NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkits said yesterday that Free National Movement (FNM) leader Michael Pintard was “dead wrong” in his criticisms of the 2022/2023 fiscal budget presented on Wednesday, arguing that the budget brings ‘significant relief’ to Bahamians.
Pintard said on Wednesday following Prime Minister Philip Davis’ budget communication that the budget had failed to adequately address issues such as the cost of living and job creation.
Halkitis while speaking at a press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on the budget yesterday, “I think he is dead wrong”.
Halkitis pointed out that the Davis administration is reducing the duty on a number of food items as Bahamians grapple with increased food costs.
“Food items for the most part were always low rated,” he said.
“We this time tackled items that Bahamians buy when they go to the grocery store, chicken parts, leg quarters, wings drumsticks, etc and pork, pork chops, ribs, and turkey wings. We dropped the duty on chicken from 30 to10 percent, pork from 25 to 10 percent and turkey from 30 to either 10 or 15 percent, and some other food items as well.
“In speaking to retailers they would tell you that when Bahamians go to shop for their weekly groceries, they’re not filling up their trolleys with corned beef; it’s chicken, chicken leg quarters, and those sorts of things. That will have a significant impact on the actual cost of food Bahamians purchase,” said Halkitis.
Halkitis said that the government will be monitoring to ensure that retailers pass on the savings to consumers, noting that the government has increased its allocation to the Consumer Protection Commission to provide more public education and hire more inspectors.
Noting that budgeting is a balancing act, Halkitis added: “We think that the budget brings significant relief, it’s just a matter of execution. We have to meet our revenue targets.”
While responding to the Prime Minister’s budget communication on Wednesday Pintard said: “There were several concerns that we had as we listened. We listened, looking at several priorities we thought the government would address in a very pointed way.
“One of those priorities was the cost of living. It is at crisis level now and we fully expected that the prime minister would have outlined a series of actions to address that issue.”
He continued: “Secondly, there is a need for job creation given the fact that we have just come through a pandemic preceded by [Hurricane] Dorian. Even prior to that, we had sluggish growth in the economy.
“We fully expect that emerging out of COVID, the government would have had a growth budget — one that stimulates employment generation,” Pintard added.
