2018/19 Budget Communication 2018_2019 BUDGET COMMUNICATION | Page 11

leadership”,
“responsibility”,
“transparency”
and
“accountability” and in this Budget we will “tell it like it is”.
Quite bluntly, the economic, social and fiscal challenges that
we confront are difficult and daunting. I will not dwell at
length yet again on the economic and fiscal damage that was
inflicted on our nation during the previous administration’s
five-year mandate. The consequences are plain enough and
painful enough for all to see. I will reiterate, though, that
our task has been made all the more difficult by the extent of
that damage.
I spoke to this matter in the last Budget
Communication, in plain language and in unvarnished terms.
If we are to achieve the fundamental objectives of our
transformational agenda and bring palpable improvements to
the lives of Bahamians, it is critically important that we
return the public finances to a more sustainable state, with
8