Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Philip Davis delivered the mid-year budget communication in the House of Assembly on Wednesday. The communication outlined the country’s fiscal position six months after the last budget would have come into effect.
Mr. Davis told Parliamentarians, “our policies are working. We are headed in the right direction. We are finally on the right path forward and even though there’s still so much more yet to do, life in The Bahamas is better now than it was seventeen months ago.”
Davis went on explaining the impact that tourism has had on the economy. “In total there were 2.3 million addition visitors during the period, largely supported by 2.1 million increase in cruise ship arrivals which total 3.3 million, he said.
On the collection of government revenue Davis said, “by improving revenue collection earlier in the fiscal year we improved the cash flow positions and the reduces the need for sort term borrowings.” It was revealed that tax collection revenue is up from $23.7 million to $600.2 million over the same period last year. Parliamentarians were also informed that government has reduced its unpaid bills which is currently $90.7 million or 2.7% of the budget expenditure compared to 31.3% reported the previous year.
