Despite improved revenue performance in the past several months, the Davis administration still has a growing debt to tackle, which Financial Secretary Simon Wilson said will be addressed once an independent debt advisor has been sourced.
The country’s debt as of the first quarter of the 2021/2022 fiscal year is $10.08 billion, or 98 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis has announced the creation of a Debt Advisory Committee, which he said would be comprised of experts from domestic and international financial institutions and chaired by former Minister of State for Finance and Central Bank Governor James Smith.
Wilson said the government is ensuring “all the pieces are in place” before strategizing begins.
“The Debt Advisory Committee has been appointed. A part of the committee’s work is we are seeking to conclude the appointment of a debt advisor, an independent firm that will advise the committee and the government on the overall debt strategy,” he said.
“So the committee is a functional committee, it’s not just a talk shop, so we want to make sure all the pieces are in place and one of the key pieces that we felt was important for a debt advisory committee was to have a specialized firm to advise the committee and the government in terms of how we manage this debt situation that we are in.”
The national debt ballooned over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, after historic borrowing by the Minnis administration.
Davis has said that one of the first and most urgent issues for the debt advisory committee is to assist The Bahamas in tapping into greater levels of domestic and green financing.
The post Wilson: Debt to be tackled once independent debt advisor appointed appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/wilson-debt-to-be-tackled-once-independent-debt-advisor-appointed/
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