Premier McKeeva Bush
produced budget figures Friday that confirmed government managed to trim some
$30 million from its projected fiscal deficit at the end of the last fiscal
year.
But Mr. Bush didn’t say
exactly how that was done.
“I am delighted by the
significant improvement in the country’s finances,” George Town MLA Alden
McLaughlin said. “(But) what transpired…that has changed the position so
favourably, or if that is not the case, why were the projections so wrong?”
“We did what we had to
do,” Mr. Bush told lawmakers Friday morning in the Legislative Assembly. “I’m
happy the PPM (People’s Progressive Movement) acknowledge…and they know that it
was the right thing to vote for the UDP (United Democratic Party – the ruling
government).”
According to Mr. Bush,
estimates of the total public sector operating deficit for the 2009/10 budget
year stood at roughly $45 million in April. The operating deficit is basically
the different between what government earned and what it spent for the year.
The Premier said total
central government operating revenues as of April were estimated at $492 million
in April. By 30 June, the end of government’s budget year, revenues had
increased to $502 million, according to Mr. Bush who was quoting from unaudited
internal management accounts figures.
Government operating
expenses, which were estimated at $502 million in April, fell to $485 by the end
of June.
The was no specific
explanation for what led to the $17 million dollar drop in
expenses
“We spent $17 million
less than anticipated,” Mr. Bush said.
Core government actually
ended the 2009/10 budget year on 30 June with a modest $17 million surplus.
However, Premier Bush said the positive earnings were eaten up by the $26
million government had to use to pay off its debt and an additional $6 million
in “extraordinary expenses”.
The lion’s share of the
$6 million was used to assist in the recovery of Cayman Brac from Hurricane
Paloma in 2008.
Public agencies and
government-owned companies also lost a net of $1.5 million, which was subtracted
from government earnings.
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