By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SENATOR Michael Halkitis yesterday defended the prime minister’s budget presentation in face of the opposition’s criticisms as he rejected their claims that the budget failed to address inflationary costs.

Calling the opposition’s assertions “dead wrong”, the economic affairs minister pointed to several relief initiatives announced by the government to assist Bahamians struggling with the cost of living.

Among the proposed measures he highlighted was the government’s plan to reduce duty on construction materials and a number of food items, particularly poultry products.

He said the measures are expected to lessen the burden on Bahamians struggling to cope with high food prices and the cost to do home repairs and construction.

“The fact of the matter is you know, the issue that has been exercising Bahamians is the cost of living, specifically the cost of food,” Minister Halkitis said during a press conference yesterday.

“There’s been a vigorous debate about the decision of the government to eliminate zero rated items on breadbasket items and that has been a bully pulpit for the opposition.

 “What we did in the budget is the food items were for the most part, they were always very low rated, a lot with custom duties of five per cent. A lot of it was zero and what we decided to do this time is we tackled items that Bahamians buy when they go in the grocery store, you know chicken parts – we’re talking about leg quarters, wings, drum sticks, etc, pork chops, ribs and turkey wings.

 “We have dropped the duty on chicken from 30 percent to 10 per cent and on pork from 25 to 10 (percent) and from turkey, I think it was from 30 down to 10 or 15 (percent) and on some other food items as well as prepared foods, etc, there’s a whole list.”

 He continued: “In speaking to retailers, they would tell you and I’m sure during the course over the next few days and weeks, you can speak to the retailers and community stores and they will tell you that when Bahamians come to shop for their weekly grocery bills, they’re not filling their trolleys up with corned beef, it’s chicken wings, leg quarters … and so that will have a significant impact on the cost on food and the actual food that people consume the most.”

 Minister Halkitis said the goal of the Davis administration was to bring relief to Bahamians and insisted the government’s budget plans will do just that.

 However, opposition leader Michael Pintard has argued against this, saying the government’s budget failed to address the high cost of living, job creation among other pressing issues.

 He also questioned how the government planned to meet its revenue targets given proposed increased expenditure and further accused the Davis administration of being “out of touch” with the struggles of ordinary Bahamians.

 Mr Halkitis hit back at Mr Pintard’s comments yesterday, arguing that “budgeting is a balancing act.”

  He said: “We try to do a couple of things here. We try to promote the growth of the economy and bring relief and operate within a framework meaning there’s only so much money you’ll collect and if you don’t and if you spend some money, then you’re borrowing increases right? So, it’s a bit of a puzzle there to number one, criticise the government for not doing enough and then on the other hand, criticise the government to say not being able to meet your revenue targets and then on the third hand, to say you’re going to borrow all this money. We think that this budget brings a significant relief. It’s a matter of execution in terms of the growth of the economy and we have to push and we have to make sure we reach our revenue targets.”

 The Davis administration has predicted additional revenue growth for The Bahamas, with $2.8bn projected in total revenue for the upcoming fiscal year.

 This represents a 19.9 percent increase over the prior fiscal year.

 Total expenditure is forecast at $3,368.4b, with recurrent expenditure projected at $2,997.2b, and capital expenditure estimated at $371.1m.

 This comes as the Davis administration is seeking parliamentary approval to borrow $690,702,027 to cover unpaid bills before the end of this 2021/22 budget year and for the next fiscal year.