Archer targets red tape and debt
(CNS): The finance minister is hoping discussions he had with UK officials during the government’s trip to London last week will help him pay down more of the public debt and reduce bureaucracy on capital projects. Marco Archer told a small branch meeting of the PPM Wednesday that there were some issues with the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility that the UK forced the Cayman government to adopt as part of local legislation that undermine its ability to pay off debt early and move public projects along.
Archer said he met with the FCO finance officials during the annual Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council gathering in the UK last week where he discussed some changes. Archer stressed the fact that having successfully complied with all the FFR conditions put Cayman in a position of strength to talk with the British government about some amendments to the framework where they were creating unnecessary challenges and disadvantages.
He said the length of time it was taking to get projects from concept to completion was long and costly because of the amount of the public tenders required for all the consultants for each step in the process. Using the landfill project as an example, he said that millions of dollars have already been spent on complying with the process even before the tender process begins. He said that because the new procurement law will create more transparent scrutiny and ensure the public gets value for money, he spoke with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about reducing the time it is taking to get projects off the ground. However, he said he was not seeking to change the fundamental requirements of the FFR.
The second issue was the debt service ratio. He explained that the proportion of government revenue going towards debt annually prevents government from paying down the debt more, and that at present the law penalizes government for cutting debt. But because of significant improvements in the public purse, government has cash in the bank earning almost no interest and debt that is accruing interest, so it made more sense to use the money to pay off more of the debt, he said.
Archer said that he had some “common sense discussions” with the UK officials, who agreed that what he was saying “was not unreasonable and made sense”, and he is awaiting their decisions that may make the course pf public finances run even more smoothly.
The minister told the party branch meeting that the Progressive government has tried its best to control expenditure and cut taxes, which he hoped people understood because it had not been easy, and noted that Cayman was now seen as “the gold standard of fiscal prudence” in the region.
He said the FFR was not going to go away because it had provided some advantages over the management of public finances, but now the government had complied fully it was in a much better position to have discussions about fine tuning the process it sets out.
Archer said that having met difficult targets in a “calm and collected manner” without complaint, he had been in a much stronger position to talk to the UK.
Category: Government Finance, Politics
I don’t understand why Caymanian people are so proud of Mr. Archer…all him and Adlen have done is increase work permit revenues without regard to the immigration laws or job security of their people. Currently any manager can get a work permit regardless of qualified Caymanians and effectively has security on island until they apply for PR. Guys there is a reason other governments haven’t done this the past. Expatriates are now the entitled in Cayman.
What we need to make into law is a quota system . Too many citizens from one country changes any country. 11million mexicans doesn’t seem a lot, but like all people most settle in one area(city or state). You can see that even Latinos voted for trump. They felt it was unfair that new Latinos came across and are getting services that they pay for in more taxes.
We also will eventually pay for more services in fees (tax). I can remember when medical, dental and eye exams were free. How do you like paying your medical ins? Right now more poor people want to be citizens of this country so if that happens who is going to pay for another 100 million dollar high school? middle school? primary? Once they get status most change their attitude and demand more money oops, fired for some reason.Unemployment check anybody? Boops ,more fees.
Gov’t needs to make a law that people who can afford Cayman be allowed status and start yesterday before this becomes a law suit on some human rights issue .
Election time…..time to make up for the lost ground….Government needs to roll out the grants for Caymanian children to help to better their education. CI $10,000 grant per Caymanian child to help offset costs like hospital bills etc so that they can have a fighting chance to better their position. As far as I can see, ambitious young Caymanians are having less and less children because to them children mean poverty.
Until we have more children and that view is changed toward parents no politician is going to want to give any more expats long terms rights. It simple, the ratio must stay balanced.
So only one solution is to assist in changing this problem by encouraging children by means of a one time gift to put these parents back on a level footing. Help to change the perspective a little bit. Until we get more assistance, we will fiercely oppose any more expats staying here long term because the ratio of 50/50 will turn into 90/10.
Sorry, but your going to have to give out free money government because that is just the way it is sometimes. Precedent already exist in many countries and as much as some capitalist elite are going to jump up an down..thats just too bad…either that…or your heads are going to start to roll.
No more center right and center left bobo..this is either one way or the other…all rich or all for the poor..the people are demanding economic justice
What is the point of all your fiscal prudence if all the money you are saving (and more) is being spent to maintain thousands of impoverished foreign nationals that a broken immigration system continues to import and allow to remain in breach of our laws?
Well said! social housing and free education and medical are only some of the high costs of growing a large indigent group – while the real poor or needy citizens suffer.
Great work Marco.
Marco is waste of Time he don nothing for gorge town people past 4 years can’t see nothing Marco achieved in the ground
Marco has done a great deal of good for the country and has done his job. I hope he is elected again and continues to do good work in his ministry. What is your problem, no handouts?
We need to assemble a committee of highly paid individuals to solve these issues.
What a difference an honest & earnest government has made!!!!!
Trying to eliminate red tape to borrow on a scale we’ve never seen before? The red tape serves a purpose: to protect the public from single term Cabinets that feel unrestrained compulsion to rack up 50 or 100 year debts. I like the red tape that prevents us from having to join the taxable world and providing them the “I told you so” moment they all wish upon us.
Nothing said AT ALL about borrowing.
You think they will announce it? Duh
Living in a dream world, pandering to non-Caymanians and re-election mode. You will join Hillary in 6 months. Get real, stop giving concessions when we have Caymanians suffering.
Non Caymanians, really? We don’t get a vote. Every country has some suffering, generally those that cannot or will not help themselves. Not too much you can do about that. And lets be frank, a lot of the suffering, especially for kids, is down to appalling parenting, absent Daddy’s and abuse, which unless its openly talked about is not going away. Politicians should be encouraging an open environment to discuss these matters and legislate to put them right. Then maybe, just maybe, Cayman can move on and improve.
How about something basic as strict enforcement of child maintenance? How about paying speeding tickets online? Allowing more government services to be accessed online overall. How about submitting customs applications purely online and pay by credit card? Same with immigration annual fees. Passport applications completed and paid online. Garbage fees online – do we still pay for those?
Government public programs that are available online. E.g. Swimming/football/basketball schedule and application fees.
Community reporting crimes -aside from crime stoppers – via email or another website to give more urgent/non emergency information to the police. E.g. Taking pictures or video of people driving without a seatbelt or a domestic dispute, theft, cruelty to animals, child abuse, fly tipping etc.
I often ask the same on government services…however that would mean and efficient service and unemployable people back on the dole…not gonna happen before an election-or after it come to that.
Neither do you deserve one.
Move on please and take care of your own country.
Caymanians know that many new Caymanians, especially he large number of Jamaicans don’t want to show any allegiance to these islands and their perpetual need to show this makes us realise Jamaicans don’t want to be called Caymanians so we should respect that wish and when we classify Caymanians, remember they vote too.
What are YOU doing to enable YOU to take advantage of the economic gains from the concessions? Are YOU improving your skills? Are YOU changing your skill set? Have YOU enrolled in any courses at UCCI or ICCI or the Chamber?
Big like
A Big Nothing
Now that’s a great response. Now why do we need to keep giving away citizenship to those who don’t pay? When we have persons living here from ill gotten gains such as PR and they don’t pay then how us that helping Caymanians or the country.
What is the current rolling total of CIG unfunded entitlement/pension liabilities? When will that become real enough to worry about officially?