2019/20 Budget Communication Final Budget Communication | Page 8

opportunities to surgically trim the budget, decrease fiscal inefficiencies and reverse the historical
pattern of improper planning resulting in over budgeting with little outcomes. This, Mr. Speaker,
is responsible, effective fiscal management.
In the past, the budget exercise often involved agencies looking at their previous budget
and adding on a few dollars for their new proposals. This legacy approach turned into a very
shallow and superficial process of budgeting. We have turned that practice on its head and
approached the budget process in a surgical manner. Our work is far from over as we work to
continue to improve our budgeting process, but you will see the results of our efforts, so far,
reflected in various line item reductions in the new budget.
It is important to remember that when we allocate money in the budget and Parliament
approves that spending, we are not talking about an abstract exercise. Those numbers represent
obligations we are imposing on hard-earned taxpayers’ money. Taxpayers have sent us here to
spend their money wisely and not waste it. We have to break out of the thinking that we need to
spend more money to do more. To the contrary, we have an opportunity to spend the money we
have more wisely and even deliver more benefits with increased efficiency and productivity.
Mr. Speaker,
I will now move on to summarize our approach to economic development in the new
budget. The Minnis led government has a clear economic vision of a modern country where
Bahamians are empowered and independent: free from dependency on political patronage and free
from the limiting constraints of an inefficient government bureaucracy.
We have a focused approach to bring this vision to life. At the foundation is our
commitment to:
Ø expand support for Bahamian entrepreneurs and small businesses;
Ø increase the Ease of Doing Business;
Ø build 21st century infrastructure as a new foundation for growth;
Ø invest in education to break the cycle of poverty;
Ø invest in renewable energy to create a sustainable future; and
Ø lead the digital transformation to a modern government.
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