FY2022 / 2023 BUDGET COMMUNICATION 11
This harmful practice cannot be allowed to continue .
These outstanding balances include : - $ 56.7 million owed on insurance for public servants ; - $ 45.0 million in arrears owed to the Water & Sewerage Corporation to settle balances with vendors ; - $ 30.0 million for the completion of the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium ; - $ 19.0 million in outstanding payments owed to Doctor ’ s Hospital for COVID-19 emergency support ; - $ 6.4 million in outstanding rent payments ; - $ 6.0 million in outstanding legal claims ; and - $ 4.0 million for the restoration and refurbishment of public clinics .
Just as our recently established credit bureau encourages citizens to make timely payments , so too must we in government be timely in paying our bills .
In short order , Madam Speaker , we will bring to this House , amendments to the Public Financial Management Act that will help to address these challenges .
Going forward , the new PFM Act will allow all tax arrears collected to be deposited directly into the Sinking Fund . These funds will be directly earmarked to the settlement of debt , because in many cases we have already borrowed to settle the arrears . This amendment would increase fiscal discipline , as future governments would not be able to rely on arrears to fund current expenditure .
Madam Speaker : As a result of operations , the resultant deficit in FY2021 / 22 is estimated at $ 756.6 million or 6.0 percent of GDP .
This represents a $ 100.0 million reduction in the projected deficit for the fiscal year .
5 . Key Budget Priorities
Madam Speaker : Notwithstanding the increasingly challenging global economic environment , my government remains confident that the way forward which we are charting for the benefit of our country and the Bahamian people , will secure our national development for years to come .
And so I will now set out a number of the Key Policy Initiatives which we will be pursuing in the coming Fiscal Year .
As I said earlier in this Communication , this budget is focused around three themes or priorities :
Firstly , efforts to cushion the impact of increases in the costs of living , currently being driven to new heights by global economic forces ;
Secondly , to implement frameworks to grow the economy and expand opportunities for Bahamians ;
And thirdly , measures to enhance issues relating to the longterm security of our country .
I shall begin by highlighting the expenditure proposed in the budget .
EXPENDITURE : COST OF LIVING SUPPORT
Madam Speaker : I shall begin by setting out our expenditure relating to reducing the impact of rising costs . We have included amounts for pay increases for most public officers . This is because we recognize that public officers have not had a general salary increase since we were last in office , and we have therefore engaged the leadership of the various public service unions to reach an agreement . At this time , we also like to announce the full reinstatement and payment of all outstanding increments .
We also believe that the rate of minimum wage needs to increase because of the general erosion of spending power of ordinary Bahamians - an imperative which has been made more urgent by the current level of inflation . To this end , we have submitted the proposal to BPSU to increase minimum wage in the public sector with incremental increases starting in July 2022 .
We have also engaged union leadership on the issue of a contributory pension plan .
Contrary to popular belief , a significant portion of the public service workforce has no pension .
This is simply untenable and we hope that our partners in the labour movement share our view , and seek to correct this anomaly within this fiscal period .
We have made a permanent increase in social assistance by 50 percent in comparison to pre-pandemic levels .
This increased assistance is to be disbursed through the re-introduction of a conditional cash transfer programme , commonly referred to as the RISE programme .
The audit of the food programme recently tabled in the House , showed that there was no accounting for a sizeable portion of the funds allocated to assist citizens during the pandemic . We are intent on taking the steps necessary to avoid a repeat of this outcome in the future .
We have also increased funding for NGOs by 10 percent across the board , and have provided allocations to the two feeding programmes headed by Bishop Walter Hanchell and Bishop Lawrence Rolle . They have provided meals through-