During his contribution on the mid-year budget in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Philip Davis defended government spending.

Mr. Davis told Parliamentarians, “since this administration took office the government has not exceeded its budget. The suggestion we will do so this fiscal year is without evidence, speculative, conjecture and wishful thinking on their part. We fully intend to meet our deficit target for this fiscal year.”

The Prime Minister also touted the various projects and initi underway in the family islands. “But now sooner than you think those opportunities for education, for work, for business ownership, for professional development, for advanced health care will be available to all islands throughout our archipelago. Billions in new private sector investments, hundreds of millions in government led initiatives and public-private partnerships, rapid advances in technology, new hybrid energy grids to drive down costs and increase reliability of electricity.”

During his presentation Mr. Davis also acknowledge the international challenged the government most confront. He said, “we have devoted significant budget expenditures to strengthening and protecting our country. But as serious as these challenges are, and they are very serious, we should also have enormous optimism about our country’s prospects. That’s because the is also a time of extraordinary opportunity one in which Bahamians can thrive as we take on long standing problems with new energy and new solutions. No one should doubt that our little country can do big things.”