UPDATE: Businesses not buying Premier’s denial economy is failing
Speaking during the Question and Answer segment at the Ninth Sitting of the Second Session of the Second House of Assembly of the Virgin Islands on May 14, 2013, Premier refuted assertions that the economy of the Virgin Island is failing since, according to him, there is no economic data to support such a claim.
Third District Representative Hon. Julian Fraser, RA had sought an explanation on the correlation or coincidence between the Premier's decision not to fund the Development Fund and what he (Hon. Fraser) characterised as "the failing economy of the Territory" given that the money from the Fund is what is used to finance capital projects, which create jobs.
"And while contrary to what he suggests, the revenues to central government from financial service to date remains robust and tourism figures continue to rise ever since my government took office," said Premier Smith, who also noted that the decision not to fund the Development Fund to the level done for the same period in 2012 is a matter of cash management, "and nothing more”.
But according to Chairman of the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association (BVICCHA), Mr. Jamal Smith, the Premier has raised the departure tax on the premise that the government has had stagnant revenues for some time and that the lacklustre performance of the economy has prompted the government to seek alternative revenue streams by raising taxes on the poor at a time when the cost of living continues to rise and businesses are not performing at pre-2007 levels to afford personal income raises that could match living expenses.
“If that isn’t a sign that something is wrong with the economy then the Premier is misleading the public on the true reason for raising the departure tax and that should then be explored.”
According to Mr Smith, it is clear that the economy is not over performing and it may be that categorising the economy as a failing economy is too strong but the Premier should be honest with the public that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.
The BVICCHA Chairman was of the opinion that Government continues to spend in ways that does not benefit the economy, like large sums of money on importing goods that could be bought locally and its hiring practices while freezing government wages, its rewards system following the last election while many people are without the jobs they were trained to perform.
“The Premier just needs to be honest with the people. Raising taxes is usually the first sign of an underperforming economy or that the government is seeking to implement some new costly initiative. Sadly, the only costly initiatives that this government has been proposing are those that will cost the people more, like the National Health Insurance Plan, another major cost for small businesses that is not seeing any improvements to doing business in this country.”
According to outspoken social commentator and businessman, Donald E. deCastro the Premier was probably speaking for those who are not feeling it. “I can’t agree with him, because a lot of small businesses are feeling it.”
deCastro added that the statement didn’t make sense to him.
Proprietor of Cyber Café in Trellis Bay, Jeremy Wright was of the opinion that the recession is still lingering so people are still feeling the effects. “I don’t see that things have fully improved because everything has to go down to come up. It is a very slow season right now because we are right between summer and Easter so everything is slow right now. Things will pick up as the summer comes along.”
“I think that a lot of business that have lost would have to re-evaluate what they are marketing and how their place worked whenever things were blooming but whenever there is any kind of recession generally things go down so it’s necessary that people re-evaluate their business,” Mr Wright added.
According to the businessman, his entity is located at a vantage point and as such he might not have felt the effects of the decline in economy as compared to others. He said also this would be because of the nature of his line of business as well. “Up here because of the best of our world, we’ve got the airport, we’ve got the anchorage, we’ve got all the ferries coming in, we’ve got the full moon party which you know has been only getting better, it takes time to get anything established you know.”
Mr Wright said what they have been doing at Cyber Café is to constantly be regrouping and putting back monies into the business.
A businessman, who operates in concert with the marine industry and who chose to remain anonymous, said the marine industry has almost reached capacity and “that’s where I make my business and I think that things are very constant in that area but it doesn’t necessarily means that the economy is booming. The majority of the tourism is in the marine sector but generally I think that it is much stagnated.”
He opined that government may need to make serious educational efforts to reconnect the youths of the population with their natural environment to allow them to understand the natural environment that they are living in and that would held them to better understand and make a living from the landscape. He said that would also help add some cultural pride and identity which would create a feeling of possession and ultimately give them the push to do things that would aid the growth of the economy.
“However, in my general view, the economy if the Virgin Islands is at a standstill, much is yet to be done to make a significant change but as I see it some are making it while the masses are feeling the harshness.
Meanwhile, an educator said, “We who are living in the Territory, maybe it is [not failing], I don’t know how those who are deemed upper class are living, but we who are middle class or are of a lower stature, we are not feeling this [robust revenues], we are still struggling. According to the educator, persons in the education sector still have their needs being unmet with regard to the schools not being looked after.
Jost Van Dyke resident Gregory A. Callwood said businesses in his area, including his, were doing well. “For most of the businesses in the government and Jost Van Dyke, I’ll say they’re good.” He conceded though, that some businesses on the eastern side of the island were feeling ‘it’. “For me personally, for Jost Van Dyke, we’re really doing good, so we don’t have anything to complain about… I guess we’re with the Premier.”
A certain business in Road Town was approached for comment, however, the proprietor said “for the better of us all please don’t write that article.” It is not clear, however, what he meant by that statement.
See previous article posted on May 19, 2013
Premier Smith refutes assertions economy is failing
-Says there is no economic data to support such a claim
Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith has caution that the economy of the Virgin Island is not failing as there is no economic data to support such a claim.
"And while contrary to what he suggests, the revenues to central government from financial service to date remains robust and tourism figures continue to rise ever since my government took office," said Premier Smith in response to a question put forward by Third District Representative Honourable Julian Fraser, RA at the Ninth Sitting of the Second Session of the Second House of Assembly of the Virgin Islands on May 14, 2013.
Hon Fraser had sought an explanation on correlation or coincidence between the Premier's decision not to fund the Development Fund and what he (Hon. Fraser) characterised as "the failing economy of the Territory" given that the money from the Fund is what is used to finance capital projects, which create jobs.
According to the Premier, the decision not to fund the Development fund to the level done for the same period in 2012 is a matter of cash management, "and nothing more, and has no link to my governments commitment to develop and improve the infrastructure of this Territory," responded Premier Smith.
The leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) government also stated that additionally he agreed that on one hand capital projects can provide jobs; however, the link with job creation and proliferation of capital projects can be misleading as many capital projects only result in temporary jobs.
"This government is favourable towards meaningful and permanent job creation that provides for a sustainable and dynamic economy that does not depend on fiscal outlays from central government for survival," said Premier Smith.
He added that his government has deliberately ensured that its capital projects are geared towards the economic development of the Territory through the pursuit of projects such as the Cruise Ship Pier project, the invitations for the development of the Prospect Reef Hotel, and the expansion of the T.B. Lettsome International Airport, which are also in concert with the creating of an investor friendly environment.
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49 Responses to “UPDATE: Businesses not buying Premier’s denial economy is failing”
Banks taking homes and cars, down island people returning home, every business requesting overdraft from the banks, stores and shops closing left right and centre, the economy in the USA, EU and other islands have contracted yet this man and his government shows their incompetence over what is real to the people!!!
I do not agree with the jobs NDP are after. If tourism is going up every year despite the world economy, why are we in such a rush on the cruise ship pier park when there are many unanswered questions.
He encourages the runway expansion for investment friendly opportunities (considering most of the investors have private jets). I think that can wait as well.
What I DO think he should move on is developing prospect reef considering it has great potential and is already there. (of course it will be near the sewage treatment location at the bottom of Ft Burt). But if he wants to create short-term jobs, fix roads, develop Fahie Mountain at west end the way it was planned in front of the police station, put money into re- building mouldy schools, stabilize electricity and water, internet etc. These are jobs while fixing infrastructure for the people before inviting more people in.
You see the disrespect? He said their is no data to support Fraser's position that the economy is failing. but yet he produces none to show it is robust. You see the insult to your intelligence?
Yes, the economy here is BAD.....yes, the economy worldwide is bad....we are lucky to have had some good years, now we have to deal with the bad ones.....we just have to make the best of what we have...and stop blaming the politicians and the rich......
The VIPs solution to our current situation would have been to spend our way out of this dilemma by offering a number of petty contracts in an attempt to jump start the economy. However, this may have done more harm than good due to things that have occurred in the past where persons inflated the cost of contracts at the expense of we the tax payers. We must be careful what we wish for.
are lost in space, you know. Reading the national news, it seems any one or any corporation which has done
something well, and earned a profit at it - is under a witch hunt. It is a foregone conclusion that people and
their organizations including big corporations, do things that are terribly wrong. Because humans in big groups
tend to go bad as a psychological constant of the human race. But now the big governments of the US and UK
are all out to shoot down anyone who has done something well. Most people don't have a pot to piss in, but
how does it make things better to punish people who are productive and managed to have something?
I know how this comment sounds to some people, but imagine being persecuted and 'witch hunted' only
because you can do some things really well. That does not make for a good economy or good neighbor
relations. It's more like a dystopian fiction story. All people should be encouraged to be creative and
make some kind of profit at that. That is a good thing. And people who just want to live their lives as they
see fit, and are hurting no one - should not be bullied. Sorry if this does not seem to make sense.
The NDP needs a better leader.
The economy can't be failing when in fact government is wasting our tax dollars of a $150,000.00 in musicfest starting from tonite. And you Fraser will be doing the same thing if the VIP were ruling.