VI has expenditure problem?
Doug Wheatley of Speak out BVI, said a constant statement made by the people of the Virgin Islands and its Government is that the Territory is broke. “We are not broke, it is an expenditure problem.”
Looking back at the years prior to 1981, he stated that there was a budget of $10 million and presently there is a budget of $300 million.
On his show that aired last evening July 10, 2012, he said that with the budget being $10 million in 1981 and before, the country was slowly developing, the people living by their needs and not their wants and were able to have done the things that were needed to do.
“But now with the budget $300 mil, the people are being told that the country is broke and the reason why the country is forced to do public-private partnerships is to be able to raise sufficient revenue in order to fund our infrastructure.”
Mr. Wheatley said that it should be a need for the Virgin Islands to address the fundamental problems that are currently being faced, that being the expenditure is far too high.
“The operational cost of our government is much too high and it didn’t just get there over night, it was working towards that for many years and it has come to a point where it is obvious.”
He stated that in 2008/09 when the world went into recession, everyone was able to see where the problems were because everyone was suffering. “But we did not have to wait until the world went into a recession to realise that our budgeting process was out of sync.”
Mr. Wheatley said that the Government and people of the Virgin Islands need to pause and understand clearly what is the problem. “Again I say it is not a revenue problem, but it is a problem with expenditure.”
In conclusion he stated, “Expenditure is the elephant in the living room and the elephant that has to be tackled fundamentally and structurally if we are to come out of this difficulty that we are in.”
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