“Difficult Budget As We Strike The Balance”
Premier, and now Minister of Finance, David Burt noted that the 2022 Budget – which will be delivered on February 25th — “will be an extremely difficult budget as we strike the balance required to stabilize public finances, promote economic growth, deliver on our election promises, and provide relief and services for the people of this country.”
Speaking at today’s swearing-in ceremony, Premier Burt said, “I have invited Her Excellency the Governor to assign to me the responsibility for the Finance portfolio.
“In November 2018 I could not have been more pleased to handover the management of the public treasury to Curtis Dickinson.
“As a Minister, Curtis added a thoughtful and measured voice to the deliberations of Cabinet and brought to his service as Minister of Finance a wealth of experience honed by working at the forefront of investment banking in one of the world’s leading financial centres.
“As I said earlier this week, I reluctantly accepted Curtis’ resignation and did so out of respect for him. I sincerely valued his time and counsel as Minister of Finance and look forward to his continued support of this government and take this opportunity again to thank him for his service.
“Needless to say, we are on the cusp of the delivery of a Budget for the next fiscal year and I can confirm that the schedule for the Budget is unaltered.
“Budget Day is February 25th and the work in preparation of the Budget, which begins in October of the previous year, was largely completed prior to MP Dickinson’s resignation on Monday.
“I have already started working with the dedicated team in the Ministry of Finance to compose a Statement in Support of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the Fiscal Year 2022/23.”
“This will be an extremely difficult budget as we strike the balance required to stabilize public finances, promote economic growth, deliver on our election promises, and provide relief and services for the people of this country.
“That is the task ahead and every waking hour is now devoted to repairing the damage done to the economy by the pandemic and returning activity and growth to our economic forecasts.
“There are also critical promises on which we must deliver related to finance:
- Pension reform to assist first time-homeowners
- Mortgage relief for hardworking families
- Enhanced protection for consumers when dealing with banks and other financial institutions; and
- Tax reform to promote greater equality in our tax system
“No resignation from the Cabinet is ideal and there is no ideal time for such a thing to occur. However, the strength of our system of Government is in continuity.
“The Ministry of Finance is staffed by a team of consummate professionals with whom I have had the privilege of working previously and this will be a seamless transition thanks to their level of expertise and constant attention to the various issues, both local and foreign that impact the Ministry’s mission,” the Premier added.
The Premier noted this will be an “extremely difficult budget,” it comes as the island has had increasing debt levels for the past years, and the economic pressures have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Chart from the 2021 Budget speech showing our national debt 2012 – 2022
Wrong budget, wrong man.
He is the premier, minister of tourism and now finance minister. So he controls us, the people that come here and our money. At what point does this become…..a real issue smh. Anyone that voted PLP should be ashamed of themselves because we are now a third world country. Leave the country while you still can people, bermuda is finished
Well, he killed the 2022 Tourist Season already by continuing the TA. so not much to do there
In my opinion, the budget will clearly show why Curtis resigned. This is David Burt’s budget, and not supported by Curtis, a far more experienced financial person than Burt could ever be. It is a dangerous and politically driven budget, about the worst Bermuda needs at this time. Watch out for the reaction from the credit agencies, and then IB.
If the current finance minister wouldnt have created so much more debt, budget might not have to be as bad, but we’ll done voters.
Crickets from all of you, the guys a national embarrassment and his ego makes itbworse.
Why would a man who gave $800,000 of our money without cabinet approval to a con man in Atlanta be allowed control of all of OUR money?
CAn you imagine the hypocrites should the OBA have done this.
Now the commissioner gone i guess the investigation is gone too.
Because its not his money!,its the tax payers, us !,do you think he honestly cares? Where else in the world could you get away with this!
Where else? North Korea springs to mind right away. Zimbabwe follows close behind. I am not one for keeping up on the details of international affairs but I’ll bet that there are plenty other dictatorships or virtual dictatorships around.
Haiti, and most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. That’s the standard we’re at now.
HMM and people like you wonder why black Bermudians refuse to vote for your white opposition party. Answer people like you are the reason they had to change the name from UBP to OBA in 1 night!
Bermuda is well along the path to becoming a failed state, like the ones I listed. Where ordinary people live in abject poverty, while a few elite politicians get rich. Blame who you want – we can all see who is doing what. Burt managed to get to and from Chicago without paying anything for flights or hotels. Who paid for that, and what do they want in return? Burt doesn’t seem to want to talk about it.
CryptoGate.
Apart from the obvious factual inconsistency regarding the OBA, the simple fact remains that 20+ years of PLP incompetence have turned the “jewel of the Atlantic” into a failed state where only a few succeed.
Happy with that?
I am ready to march. Let’s do this!!
Is this horror movie over yet? Just when I think he can’t get anymore arrogant, well; he does. PLP members of Parliament, he doesn’t think much of you, no one but him can be Minister of Finance or Minister of Tourism. He needs to do 3 full time jobs because why? Seems like he feels there is no one else capable of doing even one!
If he is right, we need to start over and elect a government full of capable individuals.
Much as I dislike Burt, and the PLP, who in the Cabinet would you promote to Minister of Finance or Minister of Tourism.
Alex Scott is dead wrong, there’s not a deep pool of talent. They are all numpties.
His (DB) response to the reporter question reference Sir John’s opinion was very ARROGANT!!
Both selections yesterday were not the best. Time will prove it.
Seems to be a sickness right now with certain politicians. Look at the new mayor of NY. Said the same thing.
And here comes the reason for that 2020 snap general election. He knew then that if the next budget was tough they would be voted out at the next election which would have been this year but we’re now stuck with them for another 3 years.
This is what we get for voting based on emotions.
“This is what we get for voting based on emotions.”
Or this is what we get for not having an effective opposition.
This state of affairs has NOTHING to do with whether the OBA are an effective opposition or not. With 6 seats post the 2017 election, there is only so much they can do. But their brief time in office was showing fruits until the 2017 election where the PLP capitalised on resentment and lies. The PLP STILL hasn’t enacted election promises from even then.
If you can’t see that, you’re just as emotional as I say.
I’m not emotional, I am simply stating the majority of Bermudians do not see the OBA as a viable opposition.
The Bermuda Government is elected by the “swing” voters. That has been the case since the 1960s, when party politics came to Bermuda.
If you look at voter turnout at the last 2 elections, you will see that the “swing” voters did not come out in favour of the OBA.
None of that even matters. The 2020 election was still held because Burt knew people were going to be angry and he knew hard decisions were coming down the line and voila! Here they are. 2022 was meant to be an election year but now we’re stuck with this Govt that has ZERO ideas and ZERO professional talent to get us out of this mess until 2025. It’s very clear to me.
I hope they feel very guilty. Of course, they won’t, being Bermudian it will all be someone else’s fault.
It just goes to show how many people care !,12 comments from the whole of Bermuda !!
More taxes. But the government clearly doesn’t do well collecting unpaid taxes, to the tune of $200M. They just expect a certain segment to keep on paying….until they won’t or can’t.
Burt’s Budget will likely be the death knell for the economy.
People are already moving money out in anticipation of higher costs for anyone trying to get money off the island in their desperate attempts to keep it on-island. It will backfire on them and ultimately hurt us the most.
If there is so little talent in the PLP that he has to hold 3 posts, why did we elect them again? He only seems to make personal and political based decisions, so how is he going to make financial decisions that are good for the Island?
Brace not just for the impact of this budget, but for the residual ongoing damage. Like a nuke. This place will be an economic Chernobyl.
But how does one go about moving their money out of here now what with all of this KYC stuff ?
I’ve spoken to a few money wise people about this and they say it’s very difficult or next to impossible .
And bear in mind that we can only move foreign currency as BD$ are only recognized here.
Why can’t our Premier just tell us the straight truth and not hide behind fancy words and clever innuendo ? David Burt promised transparency. This is not transparency. We deserve better. Bad news doesn’t get better with age. We the Bermuda Public deserve to know what is happening and why. The politicians work for us. It’s Bermuda taxpayer’s money. Let’s be clear and frank and stop these foolish games that treat taxpayers like mushrooms. We are not!
The more titles, the easier to cook the books .
they complained about trump now lookk what they have npw you np what you have dont no what your gettting give your money your getting to a chartie
they complained about trump now lookk what they have npw you np what you have dont no what your gettting give your money your getting to a chartie
no body in bda speaks up even the media is soft in bermuda mmaybe you need to get fox news investagate
Just look at the chart and the yrs OBA was gov. Who knows how to control spending? PLP is create at spending money and making us ALL pay more tax.