NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Davis yesterday said that the fiscal deficit decreased by $5.3 million in the first half of the fiscal year as he admitted that comments made on the deficit last week were inaccurate.
In his mid-year budget communication last week, Davis said that revenue collections were up but also noted that the government experienced a net deficit of $285.7 million, which represented an increase of $7.8 million.
Davis blamed the error on speech writers during his contribution to the mid-year budget debate yesterday.
The Prime Minister singled out the Nassau Guardian yesterday, telling Parliament that a headline in the daily last week which stated that “Revenue Rises But Deficit Up” was inaccurate.
East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson however reminded the Prime Minister that his communication last week contained the figure. Davis then admitted that his speech writers had made an error.
“The government’s fiscal deficit for the first half of the fiscal year decreased by $5.3 million when compared to the previous year,” Davis said.
“It decreased and not increased, just look at the numbers. You see the deficit totaled $276 million for the first six months of this fiscal year compared to $281.3 million in the prior year,” he added.
When pressed on the matter by Thompson, Davis said: “The figures speak for themselves. Everyone can see that was a misspeak by the writers. That’s why I made it a point to correct it. What I said today is correct.”
