Business Senator Dissects 2015/2016 Budget

Tonight, as we promised, we take another look at the 2015/2016 budget, scheduled to be debated on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh. In the preface to his presentation, Prime Minister Barrow made it clear that he would be coming back to the House to seek more money, since in preparing the estimates they could not possibly have forecast such a massive victory on the March fourth Municipal Elections. So what exactly does that mean? Business Sector Representative, Senator Mark Lizarraga, broke it down for us today.

Mark Lizarraga

Mark Lizarraga, Senator, Business Sector

“When he did his budget he was catering to certain U.D.P. constituencies and he was ignoring others. He didn’t budget money for them because he thought that they probably weren’t going to support him as strongly as they did. Now that he has the full support from virtually across the whole country, he’s saying guess what, I have to take care of those people that took care of me. I have to borrow more money because I have to spend more in those areas that I didn’t anticipate I was going to be spending in. That’s what he’s saying. What the Prime Minister is saying, Mike, is that his budget calling for borrowing so far to balance his budget of one hundred and seventy-four million dollars – he’s saying that’s not going to be enough. I plan to spend more in these areas that supported me that I did not anticipate their support. So already we have borrowing of two hundred and seven million dollars that we had to make for last year to balance our budget. This year we’re saying that going into the budget as it is, we have to borrow a hundred and seventy-four million dollars to balance our budget, but guess what, I’m coming back to you for more because I have more spending than I planned to do. The thing is that while we budget for a particular number, we’re coming back to see that the revised numbers are much greater. In the case of last year I think it was some eighty million more than we budgeted for. This year we don’t know what it is going to be. So what is the purpose of the budget if you keep changing them? Yes you can have minor adjustments for some extraordinary events but we should have to pass supplementaries every year because the government decides to spend more on social programs.”