Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn defended the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis and its economic aftermath, citing salary sacrifices by public officers and improvements in debt management as evidence of responsible financial stewardship.
In the 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, public officers, including parliamentarians, gave up a total of $83.81 million from their salaries to ensure that civil servants retained their jobs during the unprecedented economic and health crisis, Straughn declared in Parliament on Tuesday.
He said: “We gave up a bit of our salary, along with public servants who opted to do it and participated in it. The total of that programme of monies raised to execute was $83.815 million.
“Each of us in this place, as well as other public servants, set aside a piece of our salaries, given that a large part of the economy was without income, and therefore, once we did not send home any public servants, we asked the public service to sacrifice a little bit in order to help with the public finances of the country.”
The minister also praised the return of confidence in government paper, noting the significant support so far for short-term treasury bills as well as the success of the government’s BOSS bonds.
He also outlined the progress made in restructuring debt and restoring confidence among lenders, which has allowed the government to swap out higher-interest loans for financing at more favourable rates.
Straughn said: “Unlike seven-and-a-half years ago, when we owed everybody everything, that is not the case today.
“We’ve been able to correct the issues that we were faced with, but we had to do so and be responsible because we’ve been able to manage our debt situation in such a way that rather than paying almost 70 cents in every dollar collected in debt, seven and a half years ago, we’re now less than 30 cents in every dollar collected.
“This means that there’s more money available to do things for people…. And therefore, when the Leader of the Opposition, or you hear a narrative that’s developing saying that people don’t know where the money has gone, they either genuinely don’t understand how public finance works…. and if you do not understand how public finance works and you’re trying to create this bogeyman, then you’re not only just doing yourself a disservice, but I think you’re trying to hoodwink and mislead people.”
(IMC)
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