UK Gives Cayman Budget Conditional Approval
“I’m pleased to announce that the Minister for Overseas Territories the Hon. Henry Bellingham has agreed with our position for the budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year,” Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush said in a recent statement.
He said the conditions for the budget include that the Frame Work for Fiscal Responsibility is passed into law; no supplementary appropriations except to fund recovery from a natural disaster; that we will assist the UK’s economic advisor in periodic budgetary reviews and that a budget board will be set up to assist in longer fiscal plans.
Although he said that Cayman had lost its “economic sovereignty” to the UK in the 2012/13 budget, Premier Bush said the four-year plan for Cayman’s finances would put the country back on “sound economic footing”.
The Caymanian Compass reports that the budget cutting plans include a “reduction in headcount” of the civil service by 360 over the next five years. That averages out to about 72 jobs per year.”
The Cayman Opposition Leader told Cayman’s CNS that the conditions imposed on the Cayman government’s 2012/13 budget by the UK have essentially removed most of the functions of the Finance Minister from the Premier. Premier Bush responded to that statement saying the Cayman media reports were “vicious and deliberate in trying to hurt me and in so doing, harmful to country.”
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This is good news….now there hopefully shouldn’t be as much unnecessary sensationalism when comparing Bermuda to the Cayman Islands.