Press Statement from Office of The Prime Minister in Response to Michael Pintard
Statement Release
FNM makes delusional claims that they didn’t leave the country in an Economic Crisis.
Now want to keep tax breaks for foreigners and put the tax burden on Bahamians to clean up their mess.
By any measure, the FNM left The Bahamian economy in an economic mess.
Thousands of Bahamians were out of work because of the lockdowns, businesses were on the edge of collapse because they couldn’t operate in the evenings, and hospitals were overcrowded, flooding and crumbling. People were sleeping in their cars, and children were stuck at home, unable to get a proper education.
The Bahamas was in an economic crisis!
The FNM left a debt of $10 billion, having borrowed $2 billion per year without a single road, school, hospital or clinic to show for it.
And worse, they were planning to inflict massive tax rises on Bahamians to pay for their incompetence, just like they did when, without warning, they jacked up VAT by 60%.
To hear the Leader of The Opposition now make factually incorrect accusations against the government’s budget is the worst kind of hypocrisy.
We are still having to clean up the mess they left behind.
But we are not putting the burden onto Bahamian taxpayers, but now the FNM claims that we’re hurting foreigners.
Every single time a choice has to be made, the FNM favour the rich and the foreigners over ordinary Bahamians.
And as was revealed in the Prime Minister’s Budget Communication, we are making great strides already throughout the Family Islands.
New roads, schools, clinics, and airports are already being built on many islands. Not even
a single house.
Major investments are bringing Family Island economies back to life. The combined GDP of Cat Island, San Salvador, and Rum Cay experienced a remarkable growth of 39 per cent.
Exuma experienced significant growth of 33 per cent in its GDP compared to the previous year, and Andros’ GDP reached its highest level in 8 years, with significant growth of 6.2 percent.
This is the investment this New Day government is making and will continue to make throughout our country.
We hope that the quality of the Budget Debate will not be lowered by constantly correcting
the facts of the FNM Opposition.
