Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment, Mia Amor Mottley, delivers the Budgetary Proposals and Financial Statement 2024. (BGIS)
Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is good to see you this afternoon, smiling as you are. And, let me say at the outset of this Second Reading Speech and Budgetary Proposals that I would like to thank all Honourable Members on this side for the sterling effort over the last few weeks, with respect to outlining the plans and programmes of the various Ministries of this Government.
Indeed Sir, in following the tradition of previous Prime Ministers and Ministers of Finance, this is the time at which I now get to bat my hand.
Sir, this afternoon’s Budget will be a conversation with Barbadians about where we have come from, where we are now and where we go next, and of course, how we get there. It is a Budget that would secure our Barbados of today and our Barbados for tomorrow. That security is anchored on our achievements against many odds so far, on the clear improvements we are seeing and on the bright light of our rising star, which is the result of our joint effort. It illuminates a future, prosperity in which we can all share and a country in which our pride remains fully justified because, Mr. Speaker, it is built on our industry.
In this Budget, all Barbadians whether at home or abroad, will see how their efforts can further contribute to the shared national prosperity; how all of us can benefit from our labour, to enjoy our share of that prosperity.
The Barbados star will continue to rise through the collective effort of all of our people and together, Sir, we will fully emerge from the period of deep economic and financial abyss, with its political origins of course in the “lost decade” of 2008 to 2018, from the social and economic tentacles of the COVID‑19 pandemic, and from the supply chain shackled by the Russia/Ukraine War and its consequences, and now compounded by the war in Gaza.
We can go into a period, Sir, of increased social stability and heightened and sustainable growth, but Mr. Speaker, we must work together, and we must plan together. Let us therefore reason together, Sir.
In order to put you into a listening mood, let me say as early as I did last year, there will be no new taxes. But I am telling you up front, that I will warn you that there will be some adjustments during the course of this year, of a few rates that we will need the public to be able to bear, if our services that depend on those rates, are to keep up with the kind of service that Barbadians want.
Let me also make the point, Sir, that I am well aware that there are some issues which are of further concern to the country. I hear you and I see you and I feel you. The allegation of unsustainable national debt, the cost of living, the health care system and more specifically the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the state of our roads, particularly, the pothole repair, the access to jobs especially for our young people, and of course the management of the education transformation effort. I will address these as I speak to you today, Sir.
My second mood setting point, is to give the country first the facts, and second, an assurance about the national debt. I do not take these things lightly because so much has been put abroad to convince the country otherwise. I need to make the point, Sir, Barbados’ debt is not galloping out of control. The debt to GDP ratio, is not precarious. And this Barbados Labour Party Government has not increased the national debt to unmanageable levels. In fact, Sir, the national debt is now lower than it was when we came to Office in 2018. Lower, I can spell the word, L‑O‑W‑E‑R. When we came to the office, Sir, the debt was 178.9 per cent of our GDP. At the end of February, last month, 2024, it was 114.6 per cent, Mr. Speaker.
In 2018 when we came to Office, debt cost this country 68 cents out of every dollar of revenue. Today, we are now paying 30 cents out of every dollar to service debt.
Sir, the reduction in our national debt has been despite the fact that we went through the worse pandemic in 100 years; despite the extreme weather events – the worse hurricane in 65 years, the worse freak storm in our memory, and Mr. Speaker, an ash fall that was the worse since the 1902 volcanic eruption of Soufriere in St. Vincent.
Mr. Speaker, in spite of all of the things that required citizens’ support and occasioned high expenditure against shrinking government revenues in those days, and in spite of war-caused supply chain disruptions and price increases, Mr. Speaker, our debt has been lowered.
And, Mr. Speaker, let me put it in further context too and there is a beautiful graph, three graphs in fact, that I hope will be shared with the public of Barbados, that show the story very clearly about the management of this economy since 1976, and who increases debt and who allows growth in this economy to take place. And I hope it will be shared, Sir.
In 1994, when the Barbados Labour Party became the Government under the then Owen Arthur, debt stood in this country at $2.5 billion, 14 years later when we left office, Sir, at the end of December 2007, we left a few weeks into January, the debt stood at $7.2 billion. Owen Arthur carried it from $2.5 to $7.2 in 14 years, Mr. Speaker. Under the Democratic Labour Party Government, not only in the 10 years did our debt mushroom, not only did we record 23 downgrades, but we became the third highest indebted country in the world.
To download the full text of the Budgetary Proposals & Financial Statement 2024, please click here.
Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment