With that said:
2013 Nominal GDP (current prices )= +0.7%
2013 Real GDP (constant prices) = -2.5%

It seems that we are not out of the woods yet…although there are signs of improvement.
Have a good day.

Feel free to give the $100 to any charity of your choice

Look at three figures. ONE – GDP at current market prices for 2013 = $5,573,710,000. TWO – look at GDP per capita = $85,747.
Do the arithmetic: $5,573,710,000 GDP divided by $85,747 GDP Per Capita = 65,002 ResPop. This is the ResPop reported by Government in the July 2013 Bond Prospectus.

But Government surveyed the 2013 ResPop and changed its “estimate” of the 2013 ResPop to 61,954. Government reported this lower ResPop number in February 2014 – six months before this GDP report came out. Properly, the Government should have used its “new” ResPop number.

Let’s look at that THIRD figure: $5,573,710,000 GDP divided by 61,954 ResPop = $89,965 GDP Per Capita.

That $89,965 is way higher than the $85,747 reported. It suggests a massive improvement in Bermuda’s overall economy. But nothing else supports the idea of such a massive improvement.

Very, very, clearly. In simple primary school arithmetic, you can see the primary mistake. Government has got a very basic number horribly wrong.

Re-read my piece, from last week, on ResPop.

Then scratch your head and anything else that you can reach….. Things are in a mess!

Also when the OBA took over the current year was almost complete (with a $350M+ deficit) that needed to be financed and the budget for the next (this current) fiscal year was already approved (also not financed) therefore the OBA had to deal with 2 out three years of unfinanced deficits that were completely not of their making in a very short period time after taking office. The one budget that they ARE responsible for I believe is on track to have a reduction in expenses of 15% or so.

Jus’Askin…those are 100% facts not political smoke and mirrors.

I’ll give you $100 if you can explain in reasonable terms the mechanism by which the global recession caused Bermuda’s ongoing 5 year recession. Go.

If the OBA didn’t make that loan there would be NO civil service left to pay in 4 years time . How do ya like them apples ?
And that’s a FACT . Not the rubbish J/A posted.

It was borne out of necessity due to the mauling and destruction of our finances by the PLP solely. No one else helped them destroy our sound financial position with the then Opposition even noting the excessive borrowing and overheating economy. These warnings were dismissed as fear mongering and the rest.

So when you say that the OBA increased our debt in less than one year it is you being disingenuous and trying to exemplify that they increased our debt for no good reason. The borrowing was necessary because of the deficit caused by the PLP’s severe financial mismanagement. You act like this Government had any other option to cover their INHERITED expenses.

If they did not borrow then the other option was to cut Government expenses and close the INHERITED $350 million deficit via massive cuts immediately. That was not an option to pursue in the middle of a recession. Economics 101 my friend.

The PLP are 85% responsible for our current financial woes whether some want to acknowledge the facts or not is not my problem.

The truth is an offense, but not a sin.

The inherited $350 million deficit could not be wiped out immediately as the shock to the system would have resulted in the prolonging and further deepening of the recession as was caused by the PLP’s decisions while in power.

If they didn’t tap into the debt market and lock into the historically low rates than the other option would be to immediately cut the overspending which would be primarily civil service job cuts as that is the largest expense for Government. This was even noted that when they first took the reins of Government they had to borrow as a means to meet civil service pay checks.

The $800 million borrowed is to cover the projected deficits over the next 3 budget cycles. This year alone the Government is forecasting to cut the deficit by $70 million with further reductions planned for the next few years as recommended by the SAGE commissions ‘glide path.’ Let me reiterate: this Government DID NOT create the deficit, but they have to work and live with it.

So to answer your, um, question the need to borrow the $800 million to cover the deficits created by the previous administration is a direct consequence of their financial mismanagement outlined above.

Do you believe then the Government should not have borrowed to cover the deficit and inherited expenses and thus should have embarked on immediate and drastic cost reductions as a means to close the budget gap? If they did I can only imagine the response: anti-Bermudian yada, yada, yada.

Now that I have addressed your deflection of a post why don’t you return the favor by telling me how what I have stated in my original post is wrong or something along those lines and whether or not you believe that our current financial situation is solely due to your ‘global recession’ myths and why the PLP deserves no blame for your financial woes.

Now I do

If Nominal GDP shot up 6% and inflation was 8% the economy is still contracting as Nominal measures the volume not the value.

The real number is the only one that matters.

He will not, as you are talking pure nonsense.

I understand your frustration about how the PLP continues to try and recreate the truth almost on a daily basis and I agree there is no ownership of the damage they did to Bermuda. However that being said, I don’t think it’s fair in the least to call their followers uneducated, somewhat blind or somewhat gullible possibly, but to say uneducated is insulting. We need to love thy neighbour and in many cases turn the other cheek when it comes to the PLP if Bermuda is going to get through this.

Can one of you please provide a rational answer as to why none of our major trading partners and/or similar sized/structured economies didn’t experience 5 years of consecutive negative GDP growth as Bermuda did?

“Global recessions” didn’t cause the previous Government to increase the deficit by 1,421% between 2004 and 2008 (year end March 31st) which was caused by growing expenses by 43% while simultaneously only increasing revenue 19% over the same time period. Just to clarify this financial mismanagement occurred before what some commentators continually refer to as the “great recession.”

Between 2005 and 2012 the previous Government increased expenditure 57% while revenues grew by 17% which in turn increased the budget deficit by 1,912%! As a result of this blatant financial “mismanagement” the BDA’s net debt exploded from a 2005 level of $128 million to $2.42 billion in 2012 which is a 1,787% increase!

“Global recessions” don’t cause Governments to continually (as was the case over the time period in question) overspend by 30%, 50% and even more on capital projects resulting in hundreds of millions of wasted tax payer monies.

“Global recessions” don’t cause Government to receive 4 consecutive qualified audits on their financials as was the case under the financial stewardship of the previous Government.

“Global recessions” also don’t cause Governments to cease performing financial audits on the $1.5 billion underfunded pension plans run by Government for almost 5 years (see SAGE report) or ensure that all quangos are being audited in a timely and effective manner (re: BDA College).

“Global recessions” don’t cause the bloating of the civil service and the aforementioned debt which in turn now consumes nearly TWO THIRDS of annual Government revenue which leaves little to nothing in terms of investments in upgrading BDA’s infrastructure and social programs.

“Global recessions” don’t cause Governments to raise payroll tax in the middle of our deepest recession which deepened our recession even further and coupled with anti-business policies pushed these locally domiciled companies off of our shores into more expensive jurisdictions to do business (i.e. Zurich, Ireland, etc.). One would think that any Government and especially the Minister of Finance would have taken a basic Economics 101 course which states save during the good times, spend during the bad and don’t raise taxes when in a recessionary environment.

None of the financial mismanagement noted is a direct cause of the ‘global recession’ myth that some wish to deflect to when this topic arises. There has been a slowdown in growth, but that doesn’t equate to a deep recession as BDA has felt over the last 5 years. Eventually some will have come to the realization that the previous administration left BDA in such financial bad shape that they prolonged the recession in this island while all others started their recovery many moons ago.

And the scary thing is that there are people in this island advocating for the return of the PLP as they beleive that somehow they will resucitate the economy they strangled and essentially destroyed in less than 10 years of serios mismanagement.

So you uneducated people not paying attention can stop yakking about the OBA doing this when the darn PLP did it to start with!!!!!!!!
The PLP also created the poo-hole that is our economy right now, and the OBA is trying to lift us out of this cess-pit! THANKS FOR NOTHING, PLP!

The only agenda the PLP has ever had was black interests, hence why they were founded by Black Panther and Brown Cadre members and fought for socialism!
P.L.P. Progressive Labor Party is an internationally-used term for a SOCIALIST government system which favors ONE RACE above all the others!

I don’t need a degree to realize by common sense, that this trend will only cause our economy to crumble increasingly quickly as the number of poor grow.

Capitalism is an archaic system meant to serve and create an ogligarchy. Anyone who has not yet, or cannot realize this, should have any degrees they posess stripped from them – because it is in plain sight!