Cooper: Govt actions made bad economic situation worse

Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper said yesterday the Minnis administration’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a worse economic situation than was necessary, and accused the government of being out of touch with reality.

“Doggedly clinging to the false narrative that we are the envy of anyone, anywhere, in how this all has been dealt with is simply a fantastical point,” said Cooper during the debate of the mid-year budget.

“Also steeped in fantasy is the notion that somehow the government’s fiscal strategy will still pan out.”

Cooper added, “Many people are broke, busted and depressed, can’t feed their children. Suffering levels are high. The misery index is up and though there is light on the horizon with vaccines now being administered to millions around the world, there is no use in pretending that things will be rosy in the short or medium term.

“And while we all acknowledge that the pandemic has wreaked havoc on our financial position, there is no escaping, in my opinion, that we are in a worse off position than we should be and it’s because of the poor financial efforts and the lackluster governance of this administration.”

Cooper noted that Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis said last week that the reductions in revenue collection were a result of the reimposition of “certain COVID-19 health and safety measures as the country experienced its second wave”.

Cooper said: “When I read that, what it says to me is that the reduction in collections is largely a result of this administration’s bad border policy in July and your unnecessary cocktail of ad-hoc, zig-zagging, unscientific lockdowns, curfews, and business closures during the course of the second wave.

“We appreciate that COVID-19 was not fully understood in March, but much of the damage done to the economy is due to overly heavy-handed restrictions on business after July.”

Cooper said part of the issue is also that the government’s fiscal strategy was flawed even before COVID-19 and Hurricane Dorian.

“A fiscal strategy absent of a real economic growth strategy is no strategy at all,” he said.

“But we’ve been saying that for four years and it’s fallen on deaf ears.

“All it ever was, was a reckless attempt to claim that you could balance the budget between election cycles. And here we are today with a tweaked strategy that’s still not making sense, particularly in light of all that has befallen the world.”

Cooper was critical of the government for a number of decisions taken since it has been in office, including the increase in value-added tax (VAT) and high levels of borrowing.

“This administration projected VAT revenue would increase by 60 percent along with the rate increase,” he said.

“But apparently, these models did not take into account whether there was sufficient elasticity in the economy. There was not. And they were wrong as they never met the projected revenue collections.”

Cooper added, “It was this administration that engaged in extensive borrowing at high interest rates at the height of the pandemic, ignoring our advice early in the pandemic to access the international capital market early.”

He continued, “So, let us live not in some fantasy world that this administration has not made bad decisions irrespective of the impact of Dorian and the pandemic.”

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