I don't always agree with Mr. Lowe, but I agree that we have to bite the bullet and pay.

The fact that the former government withheld the truth from us about their spending is reprehensible.

But they spent our Vat and added to the national debt and so we now have face the reality of our finances.

Let us accept what has happened, pay the price, and look to the future.

Well said. Both the FNM and the PLP have caused this mess. When we got to Junk Bond status the ability to borrow effectively came to an end.

45 years of borrowing.

Now we have to repay what our fathers borrowed.

Good point.

This government is faced with the fact that the 'borrowing well' is dry. The Bahamas has used up most of its credit over the last 40 years.

They have no choice, either they lay off thousands of civil servants or they increase VAT by 4.5%.

Pleased to see that they have lowered duty on cars and taken VAT off medications, residential house insurance and bread basket items.

Also see a break for the poor man in the street as he also gets a VAT exemption if his power bill is under $100 and water bill $50.

Quite a good Budget all considering.

Very good budget. Well balanced considering the mess the country is in.

OECD should concentrate on their own like the USA and the UK. They give no more, or even less, information The Bahamas on who owns what..

5 years ago they wanted tariffs as high as 200% so what do you expect them to say.

The whole customs procedure must be reformed. The back and forth from this office to the next needs to be eliminated.
Most of the back and forth is because government is trying to eliminate corruption. So do it all on-line like the banks are forcing us to do and fire half the customs officers.

The country will collect more revenue and spend less on collection.

This is the result of years of slackness by the Exchange Control Department of the Central Bank of The Bahamas in the 1980's and 1990's.

Remember lawyers like Nigel Bowe who helped launder millions of drug money for drug dealers (also Carlos Leader) and wound up being extradited to the US.

And the Banks Supervision Department that allowed Guardian Trust Company to have accounts for people like Carlos Leader. Also allowed Suisse Security Bank to do what it did right under their noses.

We are all paying the price of slack ways of the past.

Mr. Gibson is correct. Most of the local contractors are unable to produce a set of financials. Not only that, they are unable to accurately assess how much material they need for a project.
Most are incapable of managing a project so that it is executed in a timely fashion. I am not saying on time, not too long a delay.

They need to use qualified 'quantity surveyors'. They need qualified accountants to set their books up.

To many construction workers believe that they can be project managers and construction company owners.

Yes Mr. Gibson most of our construction companies are a joke and need to become real businessmen.