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The Minister
of Finance in defending against the
“trial balloon” which he tried to fly,
to gauge the public reaction to his
desire to use the NIS’ money as
temporary unemployment insurance, for
the massive unemployment being created
by his mismanagement; suggested that my
Government interfered with the workers
money at the NIS after hurricane Ivan.
As usual it would have been too much for
the Minister of Finance to have been
honest.
It would
have been too much for the Minister of
Finance to tell the nation, that after
the hurricane, one component of the NIS
fund was in fact used to tide over those
who had been made temporarily
unemployed, due to an act of god,…and
that this component of the Fund was in
surplus. He could have told us that the
actuaries were contacted and that they
raised no objection to the fund being
drawn down by up to a maximum of 10
million or 12 million! We abided by all
the rules undertook all the checks and
acted on the basis of sound actuarial
advice. No rules were broken!
There can be
no denying that this Minister of
Finance’ mismanagement will take this
country further and further down the
road which leads to no other
destination, but disaster. Try as we
might we cannot overcome the hurdle that
this is the same Minister of Finance,
the same guru that stated that HE WOULD
NEVER BORROW. For all his public
pronouncements, we are here today
debating a bill to borrow $ 20 Million
from the domestic banking sector. But
this Minister of Finance I feel sure
will tell us that “he never said that he
will not borrow”, he may even tell us
that “others may have said so”, but that
“he never said that”.
He is now in
a difficult place, between statements he
campaigned on and sold to the populace
and the inevitability that the
consequences of his other public
pronouncements have taken us down a path
of economic demise.
It would be
worthwhile to remind the Minister of
Finance that the same Standards and
Poor’s Report of February 2008, from
which he quoted so selectively in his
last budget presentation, stated that:
“Despite the dire fiscal situation, NDC
has inherited a growing, recovering
economy—a bright spot in Grenada's
credit story. Although uneven, Grenada's
real GDP growth has averaged 4.3% during
the past three years (since Hurricane
Ivan hit the island in 2004)”.
The Minister
of Finance came into Office and
“signaled” to the world that they should
not invest in Grenada. His statement on
the “treasury being empty” still
resonates in the consciousness of many
in and out of our country. Next he
signaled that it was “belt tightening
time” and the commercial banks began to
become more stringent in their lending.
Finally without provocation he went out
and announced to the world that our
unemployment rate would reach as high as
30%.This is why we have argued that
although the NDC inherited a growing,
recovering economy, this Government and
continues to do all that it can to
stymie our growth to derail our future.
Recall
that the
International Herald
Tribune which made reference to a study
by Global Property Company, Knight Frank
and Citi Private Bank, stated (and this
was circulated internationally) "over
the medium and long-term, super prime
and prime markets will outperform as
wealth accumulates around the world",
resulting in another boom in global
second home buying.
The markets
identified as "prime suspects" for
future growth were Grenada; Portugal's
Silver Coast; Singapore; Bahia, Brazil;
Morocco; Seychelles; Croatia; the
Italian Riviere; Mauritius; and the
United States. The Report goes onto
state that ‘"It is highly significant
that Grenada is the only country in the
entire Caribbean that has been given
this major international recognition,".
This Mr.
Speaker was the house that the NNP
built! This is why the Minister of
Finance has come in at all costs to
destroy it. This is why today he has to
come to us with yet another bit of
disingenuousness. Yet another nail in
what can only be termed a “coffin of
deceit”. The desire to borrow for
recurrent and capital expenditure, less
than three (3) months after his maiden
budget presentation!
Let me be
clear, quite a bit of the problems which
the Minister of Finance alluded to
emanates from the global economy; But,
this Minister of Finance and the NDC is
the architect of a large part of our
difficulties. Things have no right being
this bad in this country at this time.
The Minister
of Finance presented a budget in
December of 2008. Back then in December,
we termed the budget the unrealistic,
disingenuous, a betrayal of trust. We
said that the targets were
unattainable. The Minister of finance
was moved to rise to his feet, on
several occasions as he objected to my
characterization of the budget and his
role in it, as Chief architect, and from
what I have come to understand the only
Architect.
I said then,
when the Minister of Finance introduced
the budget that: Notwithstanding the
economic performance during 2008, the
entire population is suddenly faced with
severe hardships and hopelessness and
contrary to what the Minister wants us
to believe, this rapid slide or
deterioration in our economy is not due
to external international factors; I
argued that it is clearly due to the
actions of the NDC before and after
assuming office. I did make the point
that other countries in the region
continue to enjoy broadly similar
standards of living as at the beginning
of this year. While Grenada’s standard
of living has suddenly floundered.
I explained
back then, that what this meant was that
when the external unhealthy economic
environment really takes hold on the
region next year (referring to 2009),
that the more depressed will our people
become and the more will our fair island
of Grenada continue to slide within
CARICOM. I argued that one could not
ignore the global context in which this
budget was occurring. A context until
quite recently, of unprecedented food
and fuel prices increases, as well as, a
deep financial crisis, the likes of
which has not been witnessed since the
“great depression”. But I made the
point that the Minister of Finance would
wish us to believe that the global
problems which our country is
experiencing and will continue to
experience for the next several years
descended on this administration
suddenly.
This is why,
when the NDC was busy borrowing the
Manifesto from Barbados, we warned them
then, that the campaign promises were
non-deliverable. This Minister of
Finance himself, pretending to be the
significant economist, which he has
demonstrated time and again he is not,
personally championed these unrealistic
promises contained in the NDC Manifesto
throughout the length and breath of our
country. I termed the action by the
Minister of Finance and the NDC
administration “a swift, callous and
calculated betrayal of the public
trust”.
I’m
suggesting today that this betrayal
continues, since the Minister of Finance
must have known that the budget which he
concocted was unrealistic and
unachievable. I provided in my response
to the budget in December 2008, that the
Minister of Finance, by his, manifest
actions, lacks credibility, and outside
of being Massa of all that he surveys,
grabbing every Ministry, that his will
only be a stewardship of spectacular
poor-performance for our country.
I even
suggested that this was how he might
have “outfoxed the Prime Minister”. I
stated this in December 2008, and we are
here today less than three (3) months
after the Minister of Finance’s
presentation of Budgetary Estimates to
the House, with what can only be
described as a shameless admission that
all my pronouncements were true.
This
Government does not understand economic
management, does not have a grasp of
sound economic policies that will
shape a coherent strategy to grow
this economy, has no answers for
reducing the high levels of
unemployment, for providing meaningful
opportunities for our young
people, or for alleviating poverty. This
administration is oblivious about what
really constitutes a proper economic
framework in which business can grow.
We are concerned that in a climate of
ever tightening financing that the
action to borrow from the domestic
economy will make it more difficult for
the private sector. Indeed, it is an
ominous sign when the Government, must
borrow for recurrent expenditures. An
ominous sign indeed!
We even
termed it a contradiction in the sense
that the Budget still intended to cut
off the many social programmes that were
in place to help the poor and
vulnerable, reduced the salaries and
wages of some, and deprived others of
lifesaving medical services. This is
because we did not for one second
believe the Minister of Finances’
account to this country to be a truthful
one. This untruth is evident today, as
far from surpassing expectations, we are
falling far below and hence the need for
the Minister to go against his campaign
promise of not borrowing.
But we
should never, never forget that this NDC
administration inherited an economy that
was being described internationally as
one of the top 10 destinations for
investment in 2009. Mr. Speaker these
truths are undeniable. We said it then
and we repeat it again that these are
indeed the worst of our times, when in
fact, it could have been… the best of
our times.
(Excerpts
from presentation made at the last
sitting of Parliament by the Opposition
Leader Dr. the Hon. Keith Mitchell)
NNP
Perspective week ending March 20th,
2009
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