| Deficit soaring: ‘Tough decisions in the weeks ahead’ | | Print | |
| Thursday, 02 December 2010 11:09 | |||
 Falling government revenue has caused the projected deficit for this fiscal year to more than double, the Advisory Council was told Nov. 25. “With the exception of accommodation tax, major sources of revenue were well below budget, and a deficit of $60 million was forecast,” the council said in a statement. The public is not allowed in council meetings. When this year’s $212 million budget was unveiled in April, a $26.6 million deficit was predicted, which would have been the lowest in four years. “Work was in hand on short term measures to close the revenue gap and on longer term measures to lay the foundation for a sustainable future,” the statement continued. “Credible plans to bring the budget into balance by 2012-13 were necessary to meet the U.K. government’s conditions for a package of financial support. These would require some tough decisions in the weeks ahead. “Ian McKendry, a visiting senior official from the U.K. Department for International Development, underlined the importance which U.K. ministers attached to credible plans to balance the budget as a basis for providing support.” One of the casualties of the country’s financial problems are students studying overseas on government scholarships. Chief Finance Officer Caroline Gardiner told the council that “the government hoped to address the issue of late payments to scholarship holders as part of the financing package to be put in place early next year. In the meantime, it would seek to meet the most urgent needs based on availability of resources.” The government scholarship programme is under review to determine if any of the students did not properly receive scholarships. The review is not complete, “but emerging findings had already identified major weaknesses with the programme, which would need to be sorted out,” the statement said. In other business, Director of Health Services Dr. Rufus Ewing told the council that the Ministry of Health was preparing in the event the cholera outbreak in Haiti spreads to the TCI. “Dr. Ewing said the Health Ministry has mounted a public awareness campaign and has stepped up enforcement of current legislation relating to trade with Haiti, including requirements for phytosanitary certificates for all food imports. “The council underlined the importance of sustaining the public information campaign in Spanish and Creole as well as English.”
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