2020/21 Budget Communication 2020-21 Budget Communication - Final (1)-compresse | Page 11

the arrears program to a revised $230.1 million. To date, we are left with a balance of $85.5 million
to repay from the more than $300 million backlog of old bills we met when we assumed Office.
Capital outlays widened by $70.8 million, or 55.2 percent over the previous fiscal year to $198.9
million, or 51.6 percent of the Budget, primarily explained by hurricane related spending.
Specifically, approximately $20.0 million was earmarked for the rehabilitation of power supply on
Abaco, with another $5.4 million spent on water restoration activities in the affected islands. An
additional $13.1 million was allocated for debris removal and clean up on both islands, and another
$0.3 million on machinery and equipment. Up to March 2020, the Small Business Development
Center (SBDC) had disbursed approximately $2.9 million in loans for businesses affected by
Hurricane Dorian, in an effort to facilitate their reopening. This figure has since expanded to $3.4
million.
Mr. Speaker,
Given these developments, the fiscal deficit widened to $255.9 million in the nine months to March
2020, as compared to $140.3 million in the comparable period of FY2018/19. This equates to
some 37.8 percent of the revised Budget.
Mr. Speaker,
It goes without saying that the impact of COVID-19 has altered, yet again, the budget estimates
for FY2019/20. To address the pressing health concerns and to ensure that resources were made
available to individuals and businesses facing the brunt of this crisis, this Administration took the
necessary steps to increase expenditures and forgo revenues, which placed upward pressure on the
overall fiscal balance.
Total expenditure as a result of the assistance programs for food, unemployment, and additional
outlays to the Ministry of Health for the detection, treatment and mitigation of the coronavirus are
expected to cost the Government some $83.6 million between March and June 2020. The Tax
Credit and Tax Deferral Employee Retention Program is anticipated to undergird some $60.0
million in revenue loss through the end of FY2019/20.
Taken together, with total revenues expected to decline to roughly $2.1 billion, and expenditures
estimated to rise to some $2.8 billion at the end of FY2019/20, we now project a deficit of some
$770.0 million, or 6.4 percent of GDP for the current fiscal year. Compared with the
Supplementary Budget estimate, this represents a widening in the deficit of some $96.0 million,
or 1.1 percentage points in the GDP measure.
Consequently, total Government Debt is forecasted at some $8.2 billion at end-June, or 67.9
percent of GDP, as compared to the estimated 64.4 percent at the time of the Supplementary
Budget.
Mr. Speaker,
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