‘Budget Will Be Focused On Economic Growth’
The upcoming 2018/19 Budget will be focused on “economic growth,” Premier and Minister of Finance David Burt said, adding that “we weren’t elected to continue the policies of the past” and “we have to make the investments which are required for growth.”
In reply to a question at the recent Pre-Budget Public Forum, Premier Burt said, “Regarding the plans to spur economic growth, there will be a number of things in which you’ll hear from the budget statement itself, which speaks about that. I want you to understand that that is where the entirety of the budget will be focused. The entirety of the budget has to be on economic growth.
Extract from the live stream showing the Premier talking about economic growth:
“When you talk about small business, when you talk about the challenges in which small business has, we want small businesses to have more customers. I want small businesses to have more people to continue their services.
“That means that we have to put in place the measures that will grow Bermuda’s economy, create more jobs in Bermuda, and therefore have more people living and working in Bermuda.
“I want the Bermudians who have left to come back. I want the young students who do not see a place to come to be able to come back to the country.
“Right now, we have a Government that has been basically starved, a country and a budget that’s been starved. We see the impact…we haven’t had investments in trash trucks. We haven’t had investments in buses. We’re unable to deliver basic public services. The number of community health workers has been greatly decimated.
“There’s without question a challenge there. The only way that we’re going to be able to pay for those services going forward is to grow the economy,” the Premier added.
“I understand, and I recognize the criticism has already started by some, which are saying, ‘Oh look, the Progressive Labour Party is not going to continue on the path of the last Government, and get our budget balanced in a very quick fashion.’
“Guess what? They’re right, but we weren’t elected to continue the policies of the past. From that perspective, I can’t go and deliver a budget that looks as in a similar vein.
“We have to make the investments which are required for growth. That’s why we have to make the investments in education, in training, and making sure we market Bermuda overseas, whether it be tourism, whether that be for the Business Development Agency, and making sure we put more resources into the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation to provide direct assistance to entrepreneurs.
“Those are the things in which you will see. When we talk about the overall picture of growth, that’s what we want to do,” Premier Burt said. “We want to grow the economy.”
The video above was extracted from Bernews live stream of the Pre-Budget Meeting which was recently held by Premier Burt and Junior Minister of Finance Wayne Furbert in advance of the 2018/19 Budget which is set to be delivered on February 16th. You can watch the full 90-minute video here.
So in other words,spend ,spend ,spend.
So in other words spend,spend,spend.More debt for my great grandchildren to inherit.
Just more populist verbiage .
This isn’t going to end well .
Yeap, does he not think Bob Richards and co didn’t spend the last 5 years trying to grow the economy while reducing the deficit? Let’s see Burt work his magic. I’m going to laugh when he presents his version of Pathways to Status or maybe do a PPP on some big infrastructure project! Because that’s the only way he’s going to do it.
“Regarding the plans to spur economic growth, there will be a number of things in which you’ll hear from the budget statement itself, which speaks about that”
Hmmm…
Maybe not buying all these brand new Kia cars for civil servents would be a good start! #wasteing money,,,,AGAIN!!
Oh please.
He thinks spending more on civil servants constitutes “economic growth”.
Unfortunately the hardest hit will be their own but they don’t understand. A worrying indication is the comment that community health workers have been decimated. Clearly more civil servants. Interest rates are rising and any debt will come with strings attached. This will not end well for Bermuda, and it won’t take long either.
No it’s you who don’t understand!!!!!!!!!!
Why did you state their own???
Now you understand why people “their own” don’t join the OBA/UBP. You divide us before we even get off the starting line. You are a clear example of a RACIST!
As a black Bermudian I voted for both UBP and later OBA. However when you get in so deep and see people like you that should not even be in the party. At the end of the day you make it bad for the people that are trying to bring white and black Bermudians together for the good of the Country.
Calm down, My reference to “their own” meant the lower paid not black Bermudians. Racist? Would a racist pay to assist young black Bermudians go to college? Not once but several times. No apology from you is needed.
Lay off on the spending n stop flying around
Remember that tourist video about Jamaica?
Come to Bermuda and feel…….
Oh were f**&%h
Blah, blah, blah. Here comes that seabed mining. Playing to the easily fooled.
Come on Onion Juice – spew your vitriolic hatred defending your Government and it’s clueless leadership.
Unfortunately if you do not listen you will feel. Those affected most will be the low income people. The high net worth community will pack up and ship out. Leaving behind us that are not financially able to run. It will be sad to see unfortunately PLP and it’s follwers do not take the debt seriously. They think money will fall from the sky to keep the island moving. You watch and feel……
6 year term limits caused swathes of expatriate workers to relocate WITH THEIR JOBS!!! The fibre optic cable that connects Bermuda to the outside world is a two way street.
Those extra warm bodies used to contribute heavily to Government revenue, helped to subsidise the scary high medical insurance premiums, and pay rents in the now empty condos dotted all over the Island.
Yep you are right mate, the Government and the Island is being “starved” and we only have ourselves to blame.
Do we all get it now?
*Do we all get it now ?*
The answer to that lies in ’24-12′
Nope !
cough cough Bull @#it. The recession cause some companies to relocate staff to cheaper destination to save money. This same recession also cause me to lose my monthly housing allowance from the company I work for. I may not be one of the Directors, but Iv’e sat on many meetings.
You can’t even type a coherent message and you want us to believe that Bull @#it that you sat in on meetings and got a housing allowance too ?
Where can I get such privileges ?
As soon as the PLP began with their vitriol the company I worked for started downsizing and shipping jobs out to one of the other 38 counties they operated in . Had nothing to do with the recession at all !
This is going to be interesting. Can’t wait to hear how:
a) We are going to attract the skilled workers;without having xenophobic outcries.
b) We are going to attract investors and foreign currency without more rhetoric.
As the saying goes “Money makes the world go around.” Specifically foreign currency makes this island’s economy work.
Premier Burt says Government is starved. Agreed but it was caused by the the Government due to having to pay $180 million a year in interest costs to pay the debt that the PLP built up. Debt that was not spent on infrastructure or Bermuda would have almost all brand new buses and garbage trucks. How about collecting the $230 million in unpaid payroll tax, tax deducted from workers but kept by the employers. will that be in the Budget? Surely that is a criminal offence anywhere else in the world. Bermuda has an expense problem not a revenue problem. Tax revenue exceeds day to day expenses with $50 million to spare, but it goes to pay interest. Expand the economy and raise revenue, and all the PLP will do is spend it, leaving the debt to increase.
and the rhetoric begins ………..
PLP no idea how this really works
PLP no plan for real growth
PLP will expand the civil Service
PLP will Spend Spend Spend
We are heading in a very dark direction
I didn’t vote them in
Yawwwwwn.
Going catch the bus.
…that ain’t ever gonna show up. But you might and i mean might be lucky enough to hitch a ride with a mp passing by.
No buses running today. They are all broken down.
Maybe you would have better like hitching a ride in one of their shiny new cars.
Before the lection he was saying he would balance the budget by 2019.
That’s all gone now. The Elected Dictators are going to tax you into the ground, mortgage our grandchildren’s future, and spend money on shiny trinkets, like new cars and flights.
The only people doing well out of Bermuda will be the foreign bankers who lend us money.
The Reduction of import duty will reduce the cost of living, people will have more money to spend.
The Government will get it back through greater volune.
If the USA can reduce taxes, so can Bermuda.
The tourist doller will go further and more people will come here .
Our vistiors want value for money.
We will loose the lable of being an expensive destinstion.
My US friends will not come here ,saying Bermuda is too expensive , I say for the 10,000. th time.
The prison system should not be a free vacation charge $200. per night to pay for services and
deport foreign inmates.
And that is the thin end of the wedge.
Stop the waste !
You want Bermudians who have left to come back. I suppose that doesn’t apply to gay Bermudians.
NEWSFLASH! They left because of the PLP. They sure as h**l are not coming back as long as there is the slightest chance of the PLP having their fingers on the finances of Bermuda. They have now established themselves elsewhere. The smartest ones left more than 10 years ago. Sold their houses at the top of the market & gone. Look who got left holding the bag when the values went down.
Such are the consequences of the wisdom of the voters, 24/12.
The upcoming 2018/19 Budget will be focused on “economic growth,” Premier and Minister of Finance David Burt said, adding that “we weren’t elected to continue the policies of the past” and “we have to make the investments which are required for growth.”
Absolutely! Bermuda cannot simply print money, we must run our Government like our homes or a company, otherwise we will go bankrupt.
No more borrowing to pay interest on our debt like we used to do! No more spending money on fancy cars for the elected few like we used to do! No more paying money without proper checks like we used to do!
Be four the lection they said we would get fitness equipment in public parks now we are getting a specified type of sugar tax when most of us dont really know where sugar is hidden in food
The PLP were and currently are the problem and they are now setting up their legacy once again to continue to be the problem for future generations.
You bankrupt Bermuda now we’re suffering because of you.
I’m a small business. I’m actually The Poster Child for Entrepreneurship and Self Empowerment. I followed all of the legislated requirements to get new my business open. But Government put a stop to it. They have put me ‘on hold’ for a reason that makes absolutely no business sense. I was all lined up to operate, grow and employ people. But I can’t! … So far I am only seeing talk. Just talk. I want to see effing action to encourage and support entrepreneurship’ … not words! I would welcome a call from the Premier to discuss my issue.
I don’t get it, isn’t this the same plan that has been in effect for the past umpteen years of PLP being in power? They realistically should have stuck to the path created by OBA and not branch off again. What is the point if it sets us back again????
While the UK Government is disappointed with the implications of this bill, this is a matter for the Bermuda Government acting within the terms of the Bermuda Constitution and in accordance with international law. Kevin Dallas, CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA), warned in a letter that the law could have crippling consequences for the territory’s tourism industry. Luxury tourism is one of the main sources of income for Bermuda, alongside financial services for international firms.