2020/21 Budget Communication 2020-21 Budget Communication - Final (1)-compresse | Page 3

From the onset, I want to be clear. The budget has five critical aims: It is about protecting the
health and safety of Bahamians; it is about providing adequate social support to vulnerable
members of our community; it is about stabilizing the domestic economy; it is about sustaining
employment, and it is about accelerating our Government reforms.
These are not just theoretical ideas; they are not simply aspirational. These priorities show exactly
how we are investing public resources.
What does this look like in practice? A feeding program that can reach more people for a longer
period of time. An unemployment assistance program that puts cash in the hands of more than
20,000 people, as a form of income replacement. In practice, it means supporting and growing
more small businesses with grants and expanded investments, creating more jobs and securing
more livelihoods. Mr. Speaker, what will be evident from this presentation of the 2020/2021
Annual Budget is a clear plan, grounded in the reality of our circumstances, sensitive to the needs
of the most vulnerable, guided by our priorities as a Government and designed to transform this
crisis into an opportunity for our future prosperity.
For the past three years, our objective has been to achieve sustainable economic growth over the
medium and long-term. A key component of our strategy has been fiscal consolidation, which is
about taking public finances towards a balanced position overtime through revenue enhancement
and expenditure containment. While the economy was in growth mode, the Government took the
necessary steps to bring down the deficit and create a plan to contain our debt growth. We did this
with great success, Mr. Speaker, establishing a track record of deficit reductions and fiscal
responsibility.
We did this while taking unparalleled steps to invest, first and foremost, in Bahamians. Let us not
forget, this Government made one of the most significant investments in education in Bahamian
history through the implementation of a free education initiative from preschool to university. In
this new Budget, we are staying true to our promise to increase access to education with millions
of additional resources directed towards free education for UB and BTVI students. We continue
to fund the Universal Pre-Primary Education initiative to make quality preschool education more
inclusive and accessible. Even with the current constraints we have, we are ensuring that
Bahamians are prepared to maximize their participation in the transformed economy.
Despite the continuous attempts by some to misrepresent our record, we proved our ability to
shrink a significant deficit while affirming our commitment to our citizens. All the while, we made
the records of our performance public in a way no other Government has done before. As I suspect
the question may come up from the Opposition during the Budget Debate, I want to remind the
Opposition upfront that this Government launched the practice of releasing quarterly budget
performance reports so that Members Opposite and the Bahamian people can see exactly where
money is being spent. It is the most transparent action taken by any Government when it comes to
in-year budget performance reporting. This practice of transparency and accountability will
continue as long as this Administration has a say about it.
Further, Mr. Speaker, we have brought this idea of transparency to life with a new approach to
public engagement and outreach around the Budget. While we still release the cumbersome book
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