After waiting for some eight months this year, Anguillians were given a detailed account on Monday and Tuesday, this week, about the state of the island’s public finances hard-hit by the prevailing downturn in the economy.
The occasion was a review of the island’s economic and fiscal position, and the achievements and challenges to date. The event, held on the first day at the Teachers’ Resource Centre, and on the second day at the Soroptimist Conference Centre, also facilitated public consultations on the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR). This is a proposal for replacing the existing Borrowing Guidelines agreed between the Governments of Anguilla and theUnited Kingdom. The document is to be finalised when a British team is expected on the island this week.
Permanent Secretary, Economic Development, Foster Rogers, in an opening statement on Monday, said in part: “Our economy is slowly returning to positive growth after three consecutive years of falling over a fiscal cliff. It is estimated, by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, thatAnguillashould experience low single-digit growth in the short term after double-digit contraction in 2009 and 2010. This estimated rate of growth is nowhere near what is necessary to create opportunities for school leavers in a world of aspirations. This is nowhereto inspire confidence in young people returning from universities with life trajectories that require full employment; for entrepreneurs and businesses to grow and strive; for the construction other skills-based sectors to benefit; and for Government to meet the development needs of an ambitious nation.”
Speaking on the new proposed Framework for Fiscal Responsibility, referred to above, Mr. Rogers said that the 2003 Borrowing Guidelines, which the FFR is to succeed,were developed in a different time and place. “If indeed the Government of Anguilla is to continue to make a positive impact on the general economic space of the island, then a more agile set of rules and guidelines need to be implemented in the context of the current economic and fiscal realities,” he observed.
Governor Alistair Harrison explained that the FFR was the beginning of a process in which the Anguilla Government would be enabled to develop and enact its own legislation for public financial management. He was of the view thatAnguillastood “to benefit hugely from agreement on the FFR.” (The full text of Governor Harrison’s address is published elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian).
Chief Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Hubert Hughes, acknowledged that “there is no economic activity in Anguilla, and thatAnguilla…is decaying at the seams.” He said there was a need for the people of the island to take their destiny into their own hands.
Mr. Hughes, borrowing a phrase from former Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, continued: “We have to pay our own way; and if we have to pay our own way, foreign impediments to doing that must be removed… As a political leader, I am not going to pull punches when it comes to my people. My people are today hungry and this is by design. People are being starved into subjection. We need to get away from all those infringed situations.
“We need to get away from Borrowing Guidelines. We need to be able to forge partnerships with friendly people and friendly countries. We need to pay our own way and we need to forge our own destiny. But, most of all, we need unity in this island. Anguillians need to work together as they did in 1967. We need to forget the party politics. People around the world, especially in theCaribbean, are laughing at us [who], in a little island with 13,000 people, cannot work together.”
The Chief Minister took issue with the British Government’s frequent sending of economic and financial technical teams toAnguillato advise and work with highly qualified personnel in his Ministry. “I am grateful that I have such a technical team of experts in the Ministry of Finance,” he boasted. “I have at this table, right now, two Anguillians with Doctorates in Economics, and I have people with Masters in Economics…Nearly every member of the staff of the Ministry of Finance has either doctorate, bachelor or master degrees. We have the skills and the expertise. We don’t need it from anywhere else. What we need is to throw out the barriers to our progress. We must get rid of those artificial Borrowing Guidelines; and we must be free to accept people who are willing to invest in our economy.” Mr. Hughes repeated his call on the people ofAnguillato work together, adding: “or otherwise we are going to die separately.”
The public forum continued during the rest of Monday with the following presentations: the 2003 Borrowing Guidelines and the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility by PS Finance, Dr. Aidan Harrigan; Fiscal and Economic Performance 2008-2011 by PAS Finance, Dr. Wycliffe Fahie; Fiscal Targets, Performance to date and Projected Out-turn by Comptroller of Inland Revenue, Gecheal Richardson; Medium Term Economic Strategy 2010-20 & EDF 10 Update by Project Officer, Shantelle Richardson; Public Debt Management by Debt Manager, Brenda Hughes; Anguilla’s Development Needs, PS Economic Development by Foster Rogers; Public Sector Investment Programme: Capital Projects by Chief Projects Officer, Anthea Ipinson; Anguilla Community College by Professor Delroy Louden; and Public Private Partnerships and Infrastructure Projects by, Chief Engineer, Bancroft Battick.
Other listed presentations for the day were CFAS and the Proposed Airport Runway Extension by Simon Angoy; Stakeholder Response on the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility by John Lee of Price Waterhouse Coopers; response by John Venner of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank; and Christine Dawson of the Caribbean Development Bank. Following an interactive session, the day’s presentations ended with a wrap up by Tourism Planner, Gina Brooks.
Tuesday’s half-day forum at the Soroptimist Conference Centre, outlined by Gina Brooks, included the following presentations: The Long Term National Development Plan by PS Finance, Dr.Harrigan; a Review and Update on Financial Development Projects and Activities by Trade and Investment Officer, Perin Bradley; a Review of the Commercial Registry’s Operations by Lanston Connor; the Country Poverty Assessment & Anguilla Population and Housing Census by Chief Statistician, Lori-Rae Alleyne Franklin; and Greening of the Economy by Director of the Department of the Environment, Karim Hodge.
Following an interactive session, the wrap up and closing remarks were delivered by Dr. Harrigan and the Vote of Thanks was given by Projects Officer, Nashara Webster.
