Record Q1 public spending could cement deficit
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government spent more money in the first three months of 2025 than in any quarter in history. This record spending by the UPM administration has left the new government with a serious challenge in preventing the now predicted year-end deficit. Between New Year’s Day and 31 March, expenses amounted to almost $292 million, which not only exceeded the budget forecast by over $17 million but was $31.3 million more than the CIG spent at the start of 2024.
What’s more, according to the Unaudited Quarterly Financial Report for government finances covering the first three months of the year, personnel supplies were more than $14 million below budget. Without the drop in this line item, expenses could have been even higher.
The massive spending was due to a number of big bills, not least the expected bill for medical care at both local and overseas facilities for Caymanians who are either under- or uninsured, which was $8.5 million more than the government had budgeted for. However, the CIG also overspent when compared to the original budget on scholarships and bursaries by $11.6 million and almost $5 million more than expected on financial assistance.
Overall, the government had a surplus of $7.9 million more than it had forecast. However, despite the record level of government earnings, if the excessive spending continues for the rest of this year and warnings by the auditor general and the treasury are ignored, the country could be in serious trouble.
While the new National Coalition For Caymanians (NCFC) may be able to stall, stop or reduce some of the costs on projects initiated by the UPM administration, the new government will find it challenging to reduce healthcare costs due to inadequate insurance cover, financial assistance for vulnerable families and retirees with no or meagre pensions, and scholarships for its future local workforce.
Before the election, the finance ministry released an Economic and Financial Update that predicted that the CIG was headed for a deficit of at least $26.2 million by the end of this year and as much as $44 million by the end of 2026, as well as a potential shortfall in cash reserves.
Turning that around is not impossible, but the first quarter spending shows that while government revenue for the rest of the year will be decreasing every month, spending will remain the same unless significant action is taken to reduce it.
The new Cabinet held its first official full meeting on Wednesday, and while a summary of the outcome has not yet been released, public finances were likely at the top of the agenda, as navigating this significant spending problem without causing further hardship for ordinary working families will prove challenging.
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Category: Government Finance, Politics
FYI, the Civil Servants had nothing to do with this. These decisions were all made by the 5 UPM Members that made up Cabinet before the Election, that were supported by the PPM.
Now 3 of those Members remain with the PPM.
Imagine if the PPM got back in with Juju, Kenney and DumDum, what a REAL mess this country would be in
PLEASE..Take down that massive illegal PPM billboard with Crack Kenny’s mugshot.
Sick of seeing his face, and sick of laws not being enforced.
Also the one with DumDums face on it in BT!! Absolutely no reason to have these ugly billboards around.
But the other 2 members with NCFC are ok because they aren’t with PPM? You guys are comical.
The bottom line we need more value for money spent. 800 per Sq ft for 2 houses built on the Brac to house workers building the Schooll, costing tax payers 10 million. What a shame on so much corruption. Brac constractors
say they build houses on the Brac for like 180 $ per Sq ft. But policiations would not give the contract to thim.But what is so misunderstanding , is the people still voted her in again.
I can’t help but notice the cut down in personnel supplies which means they did the old don’t pay the bill until next quarter to try to make things look good.
What has been Govt’s contribution to CAL fpr 2024, it was $30 million for 2023 plus an “equity injection of $10 million.I cannot locate any mention of their 2024 Financial statements.
Kenny wouldn’t like us to know how much his Barbados adventures cost us….added to the costs of flying empty planes with him in first class..!
If the CIG picks up the tab for the under/uninsured why does anyone buy insurance?
It’s a serious question. Is there a limit on support or who is eligible? Does anyone go untreated?
I don’t buy property insurance any more. The insurance companies are the biggest scam artists in Cayman.
Have a look at whatever Kenneth Bryan wanted to do and stop it immediately.
any comment joey/ppm?
any comment mrs governor?
Genuine question to anyone who knows more, when we (the people) pay for uninsured medical costs is that paid at the inflated medical prices that all facilities charge, or is that paid at actual cost to the facility? I have to assume that someone is making a profit from Government (ie us) for covering the uninsured, and is there any requirement to use HSA, or a partner facility overseas? I don’t wish ill on anyone, but if the money being spent is better used it can cover more people.
Covering unpaid indigent medical costs has been reflexive Cabinet behavior and hasn’t historically received much review or intelligent thought. Nobody knows the origin of these numbers beyond HSA internal who invoice CIG for that gap. As for HSA, they are terrible at after-service invoicing in general, often only sending a first service bill a year or more after service performed to patients. It’s little wonder they run a large gap of accounts receivables. It’s possible that HSA collects once from CIG, and then again from actual patients who finally receive their bill and clear their account – where does that double reconciled service spread go?
Stop the waste – the airport authority has hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees going out to tender on Kenny’s $800 million dollar vanity airports project.
We elected a new government to stop this foolishness so i hope that they get on with it before the old government’s agenda runs up even more debt.
You moan that we don’t want a cruise terminal, which would require us increasing stay over tourism to supplement the loss of income. Then you moan because we plan to expand the runway to accommodate larger planes and open up more routes to do this. This isn’t a “vanity project” this is catering to the economic demand, but obviously there is no pleasing some people who just like to complain for the sake of complaining.
There is no demand and we cannot afford to waste another $800 million that becomes debt our children and grandchildren will be paying for.
The new government is just a polished up version the old government. Just an FYI.
Kenny Park $10Million.
Kenny beach bar $10Million.
Kenny terminal $44 Million.
Northward resort consultants $8Million.
Northward resort budget $170 Million.
Pushing $300 Million we don’t have on stuff we don’t need.
Don’t forget the Kenny B airports 1, 2. and 3 currently forecast to cost $800 million although we all know that this will double or triple during construction.
Add the airport expansions and there is over a billion dollars in Kenny B/UDP/UPM/PPM legacy projects that continue to rack up millions in fees for overseas consultants every month.
PPM immediately need to assume power and stop all this fake news. Premier Juliana in conjunction with Honorable Hew will save us. Get Mr Dart to get a bridge loan or trade him some properties. We need all the things they started plus the private air terminal and cruise pier, just listen to Austin and Elio radio show as they know what is right. STOP THE FAKE NEWS!
Love the sarcasm. I hope that everyone understands your comment for what it is.
Has the new Government returned all the pretty Tahoes or do they have to stay in order to appease Jay and Issac and prevent defection across the aisle.
They got more than a new Tahoe to join in the first place lol
Have you seen Jay recently? They could hardly trade in the Tahoe for a Honda Fit.
We shall not forget that Isaac was “selling out” his own East End precious environment just before the 2025 election, nor will we allow his ol’ C&W cronies in the “secret L society” to fool us and play puppet master either. Welcome to democracy Isaac, those if us that knew you when you had integrity as a young man are ashamed of the pawn you have become.
We urgently need our new government to identify the money flying out the door because of the previous government’s spending/vote buying spree and to put an immediate stop to it.
That includes all of the money that is being wasted on a daily basis for consultants employed on the Kenny’s vanity projects and the hundreds of millions on the line for the un-needed airport expansions on all 3 islands.
Please kill all of the waste and let prudent spending prevail.
Pull the plug on the Brac high school immediately! If you have to pay to break the contracts do so! Please stop this school from moving forward!
And the airport.
Europeans will fly to MIA and get the real (and less expensive) Miami experience as opposed to coming here to get the third rate version.
They ain’t going to come here for a beach that is disappearing by the day, the monstrous condo buildings on SMB, and the impossible to find local (real/true) “culture”.
Stop Kennyland Drug Park and redevelop it for low-cost housing. At least it’s filled.
Stop the vanity airports project that are not needed and will only run up more massive debt
Ah yes pay to break the contracts, probably end up in court, end up with a partially built school you still need to pay someone to finish, and lose all credibility in future tenders.
Do the same with Kenny’s vanity 3 island airport expansion project that is projected to cost over $800 million according to the figures published last week.
At least reduce the work at the school to meet current needs at an affordable price.
Same with prison…assess what is needed, not what glory seeking consultants want.
Make a deal with El Salvador like MAGA Trump, send all our prisoners to them.
Now THAT’S what I call a deterrent.
The PPM recruiting members of the UPM in a desperate pre-election attempt to regain control of the government says all we need to know about them. I hope the people remember this in 4 years time! The PPM should never be in power again!
stop the Bluff exit/entrance road by the old Percy Green house that Julie started for her self, because her house on the Bluff is close by that road.
This 1000%. She is destroying our beautiful bluff which is destroying Cayman Brac. After all, that is what Cayman Brac is known for:the bluff.
But the other half of PACT that quit under complete BS excuses are our saviors? You have a rude awakening soon to come. This government won’t last 24 months before collapsing and then you will have nobody left to blame, including a party that hasn’t been in power for 5 years.
What this article grossly fails to mention (by design I’m sure) is that while expenses were ~17m over budget. Revenues were also ~65m higher than the original budget. To clarify, I mean the original, approved budget, the one that has the end of year Net at a 51m surplus, which should not be confused with the ‘re-forecasted’ budget that talks about a -26m Net at the end of the year. So to do the math, the current net variance (vs the original budget) is in the region of +54m(this is in addition to +51m in the budget). And to the point about continuing deficits throughout the year, the current Net surplus is at 268m which would mean CIG would have to operate at a ~-30m deficit every month for the remaining 9 months of the year in order for this surplus to dwindle down to 0, which I find highly unlikely. To circle back to some more math, factoring in the current 54m surplus to the 51m budget would mean that at very least if CIG stick to budget on both the revenue and expenses side you end up with a surplus of approx. 105m, which means that you would need your expenses to exceed your revenue by 130m (over the 1.1b already in the budget). That all being said, CIG spending is still very heavy handed and needs to be controlled better, but sensationalized narratives and articles only make it harder to achieve, because when they come in at the end of the year with a 10m surplus they can (and will) say “Look we were forecasted to be at -26m before the election and we did so much better!” When in reality they should’ve been somewhere around 50m. The first step to accountability is setting real standards, not sandbagging budgets.
Provide properly (based on actuarial projection) for the unfunded health care and pension costs on these islands, monthly – then talk about surpluses. Not before.
I am hopeful that the new government will call a pause in the very expensive and very destructive airport expansion boondoggles and other vanity projects while they establish their priorities.
As it stands these unneeded projects that were initiated by the previous government are proceeding under their own momentum and costing us tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars per month in consultants fees alone.
Enough is enough. We voted out the PPM/UDP/UPM and we don’t want to keep paying for their nonsense. Stop the drain of our resources.
Amen!
The $8Million being paid to prison consultants should be stopped immediately, while government reviews it’s prison upgrade alternatives.
That’s 30 affordable homes going to foreign consultants.
I agree with you on boondoggles, but wouldn’t put airport expansion at the top of the list. The airport brings in a lot of revenue, if you doubt that take a look at your airline tickets and see the total amount of “fees” paid.
Cayman Airways is another money loser that I support. It wouldn’t lose nearly as much if we didn’t have so many people flying for free, and stupid politicians who insist that the fly money losing routes.
The real boondoggles are the ones that return nothing or next to nothing, and commit us to recurring maintenance expenses for years to come like:
1. A $100 million school in Cayman Brac for less than 100 students.
2. The Turtle Farm.
3. Kenny’s parks and beaches.
4. Paving George Town.
I’m sure there are many more things everyone can add to this list.
Deduct it from the previous government’s personal bank accounts! Wouldn’t we all like to see them! Why do we, whe did not vote for them then or now still have to pay for their thieving and robbery!
How TAF is it possible to have gone $12m over budget on scholarships and bursaries in a single quarter?! Especially Q1, half way through the school year.
A typical scholarship is $30,000, or $7,500 per quarter. So we had 1,600 more scholarship recipients than expected in Q1 2025?
Something’s not right here. That needs looking into urgently.
More students are being encouraged to pursue Master degrees, Doctorates and medical specialization. That may be part of it.
In useless Bible based “colleges” 3:59.
No means testing means friend’s children get grants.
One very wealthy family I know , got a scholarship for their child shortly after they were granted status.
Shameless greed and abuse of the system because nobody cares , or checks the applicant’s eligibility.
The only way to grow a country is to grow its people so I will NOT bash money spent on bursaries and scholarships. Nope.
Health care: 1. Stop sending people overseas. 2. Revise the insurance law so that private companies cannot turn away high-risk patients 3. Revise the cost of certain procedures (an MRI costs thousands of dollars? Why?!) Perhaps HSA should consider getting a diagnostician, so that people do not waste time and money searching for the root cause of their health issues. The trial and error approach used by many physicians is outdated and costly.
all due to support from ppm…and they wonder why they are not in power……zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
What else can the New Government do to curb the spending???
We need to understand that Governments have responsibility and duty of care to do lots of activities other than spending. They can close the file on stupid vanity projects like the Brac school, Kenny park. They could even knock down buildings and sell or lease that land to generate revenue. They can legislate back the protections and safeguards that should properly exist to control administrative functions and limit recent overreach. Fund oversight committees and anti-corruption watchdogs. Amend Laws and Regs. Change Boards. Fire Dept heads. Many remedies are available to get our accounts under control. Finally there are people that could do it.
I hope people take a read on what this was spent on before jumping on the bandwagon.