…And adds sobering words about nation?s finances
And while the Minister of Tourism hopes that the Carnival controversy is now behind us, a far larger problem–one that’s not going away any time soon–is the matter of government’s financial situation. With deadlines rapidly approaching for some major payments on its own loans as well as those guaranteed for others in default, it is crunch time for a government that is running out of options. We asked Espat what the future holds.
Mark Espat
?I think we all recognize that we are going through a difficult time that Government has to make adjustments to the way it manages the finances of the people because we actually managing the peoples? money. And we have to do so in a way that is sustainable. I am certainly concern that there are big decisions that Government has to make. I think we need to do so in a way that takes into account our social partners, the business community, the NGOs and of course the citizenry at large. If we are going to go through–as we must–a period of adjustment, I think we have to ensure that the burden is placed as evenly as possible on all the stakeholders and I think also importantly we have to ensure that decisions are made in a manner that makes as much of us involved as possible. That?s the only way I think that our country can face up to these challenges.?
?We had a very interesting and hectic session; series of meetings actually with the International Monetary Fund, C.D.B., and the I.D.B. who were all here as part of that mission. I can tell you that I have great confidence in our technicians; people like our own financial secretary, people like Joe Waight, people like Yvette Alvarez, people like Nigeli Sosa and Carla Barnett, other members of the technical team, and the Governor of Central Bank. I believe they?re hard working, qualified and highly competent Belizeans. So they are very few things that came out during those sessions that I think our people were not capable of advising us firstly.@
?Secondly, I think there are three broad areas that Government must address: the fiscal situation. We cannot continue to spend so much more that we get in revenues or that we can borrow. That cannot continue and Government has to contain its fiscal deficit.@
?Secondly, there is monetary policy and in that regard yes, credit will be tightened by the monetary measures that are being taken and I think the private sector has done a fantastic job over the last six years of complementing Government?s investment programmes and we have to call on them again. But those monetary measures of tightening the availability of cash, of trying to protect our foreign reserves, those are not options we must do that. Finally, there is the issue of the debt, which is what drives both of those issues of fiscal deficit and monetary policy and I think that we have to in the future, borrow very carefully, we have to borrow the most affordable rates and we have to ensure that when the money is invested there is a very clear return; a return for the people and a return for the private sector.@
Stewart Krohn
?To be fair all those things you?ve been saying that Government should be doing, the Opposition has been saying those same things for years. Do you want to admit that they were right?@
Mark Espat
?I don?t think that we have ever said as a Government that those things were not important. They are important whether the Opposition said so, whether the I.M.F. says so. I can tell you as I started off by saying that our technical team, many of them in their substantive positions have raised these issues. I think that we have to embrace the formula for correcting some situations that need to be corrected and then we have to ensure that we put in place mechanism so that we don?t go down this road again.?
The Cabinet committee on Finance was scheduled to meet this afternoon in Belmopan.
