(CMR) Premier of the Cayman Islands and Minister of Finance Wayne Panton said there is no plan to cut the 2023 budget or civil servants' salaries, adding that the notion that the country is broke is completely inaccurate.
A memo to ministries and agencies from the Premier urging for financial prudence was leaked to the media, resulting in many believing the country is broke. However, Panton has rubbished these claims.
Premier Panton, in an interview with CMR's Sandra Hill, said as a responsible government serving the people, “we have to honor the obligations that we have to be good stewards of the public resources, good stewards of the money of the people of this country.”
“If that means I have to say to 21 ministries and agencies, ‘Be careful how you spend money, save money where you can, do not spend money just because it's in the budget,' then, of course, I am going to do that. That's a prudent thing. It's what I should be doing as Minister of Finance,” he stated.
Panton said it was not about cutting the budget but delivering services and initiatives to benefit the people without excessive spending. He said he has seen too many examples in the region of approaches that are not prudent.
“I am not the person who is going to put this country's fiscal stability at risk. I'm going to do everything I can to avoid that,” Panton said, adding that he will create the right environment that continues to make the economy strong.
He pointed out that it is required by law to have a surplus. However, while the budget surplus may seem to be a large amount of money, Panton said it may be just a small percentage of the budget. For example, the surplus for 2022 was approximately $54 million; however, this year's budget is almost 1$1 billion.
The Minister of Finance also explained that during the COVID pandemic, a large amount of resources were utilized while revenues were significantly slashed.
“Those resources have to be replenished for the Cayman Islands to maintain strong fiscal stability,” he stated.
He added that the Cayman Islands has cash and was still in a strong fiscal position, “but I would prefer to be in a position where we have cash reserves that are not borrowed.”
“We just need to recognize that not only are surpluses required by law, [but] there is nothing wrong with us having a reasonable surplus which helps to strengthen the fiscal position of the country. At the end of the day, the stronger we are, the stronger the government's fiscal position is, the more you can do to help people without creating a situation where you are really draining resources and end up having to borrow money,” Panton added.
He said he does not want the Cayman Islands to be placed in a position where the UK has to approve the country's budget.
Panton said five broad outcomes his government hopes to achieve over the next two years include improving the quality of life in the Cayman Islands, enhancing competitive ideas, future proofing, modernizing government, and protecting and promoting Caymanian culture, heritage, and identity.
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