Fiscal year finish is ‘critical platform’ for 78% deficit cut

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE MINISTRY of Finance’s top official yesterday said the Government’s financial performance over the next two months is “critical” to setting the foundation for a 2023-2024 fiscal year in which the deficit is forecast to be cut by 78 percent.

Simon Wilson, the financial secretary, told Tribune Business that hitting target for the current 2022-2023 Budget period will set “a good platform” for an upcoming 12 months in which the deficit is presently forecast to shrink to $125.3m from this year’s $575.4m. “It comes down to our performance. We have two months left in this fiscal year, which are critical,” he said. “Our performance for the next two months will influence what happens in the next fiscal year. It will be a good platform for us to move forward. It’s a big year.” Successive governments have typically seen deficits spike towards the end of the fiscal year when departments, agencies and ministries present bills for payment that the Ministry of Finance knew nothing of.

Mr Wilson spoke after the Government’s latest public debt statistical bulletin, covering the three months to end-March 2023, revealed that The Bahamas’ total debt had increased by $137.6m or 1.1 percent for the period to $12.517bn.

Over the prior nine months,