Government Finance
McTaggart: PACT should give surplus back to people
(CNS): The rising price of goods has increased the Cayman Islands Government’s revenue and it “cannot be right” that the CIG benefits from inflation “while the people suffer”, Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart said in the latest PPM video, and he called on PACT to give back the surplus by funding more relief measures. Following the […]
CIG sees $180M surplus due to record revenues
(CNS): The outlook for the public finances “remains sunny”, Finance Minister Chris Saunders said Friday as he released the Cayman Islands Government’s unaudited financial results for the first five months of the year. Saunders revealed record-breaking revenues for the public purse and a surplus that is more than $30 million above what had been forecast, […]
MPs vote CI$8M more for healthcare bills
(CNS): Finance Committee has voted another CI$8 million to cover healthcare costs for Caymanians who are uninsured or under-insured and have been treated outside the Health Services Authority facilities. When the committee met at the end of the last session of Parliament to deal with supplementary spending, health ministry civil servants told MPs that healthcare […]
CIG buys bonds with loan to manage interest rates
(CNS): Finance Minister Chris Saunders has announced a decision by the Cayman Islands Government to draw out all of the remaining loan secured by the previous administration to invest in US bonds to manage the CIG’s borrowing for capital projects over the life of this budget. Saunders said that with the 3.25% fixed interest rate […]
Gaps remain in management of major projects
(CNS): In the first three months of 2022 the Cayman Islands Government spent more than CI$15.7 million on major capital projects and roads, but few of the recommendations about oversight of public developments made by the Office of the Auditor General more than five years ago have been implemented.
Budget forecasts can improve, Jefferson admits
(CNS): Government’s tendency to underestimate how much revenue it expects to collect is the result of “human nature” and a deliberate desire on the part of successive administrations in recent years to avoid the risk of a deficit and to take a conservative approach to spending ahead of the budget, only to spend the extra […]
COVID has cost public purse over CI$333 million
(CNS): Government has spent at least $202M and missed out on revenue of more than $131M as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years, but it could be considerably more, the Office of the Auditor General has found. In a new report looking at the impact of the pandemic on the […]
CIG rakes in near $447 million in just the first quarter
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government earned a record $446,906,000 in the first three months of this year, the most it has ever collected, surpassing budget predictions and resulting in a whopping first-quarter surplus of almost $221 million. CIG collected over $73M more at the start of 2022 than in pre-pandemic 2019. As well as the […]
OAG stands by report on Dubai and o’seas office failings
(CNS): Deputy Governor Franz Manderson has found no breach of the Public Management and Finance Act (PMFA) following an investigation into a report by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). But Sue Winspear told CNS she stands by the special audit she was asked to conduct on how the former administration and civil servants […]
Payments to CPA members increased by Cabinet
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority members will now be getting more money for attending their fortnightly meetings, according to a summary of the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, 12 April. There was no indication as to what the members were receiving before this increase but the ministers agreed to up the stipend so that the […]
Hospital argues that deals can’t fetter tax collection
(CNS): A lawyer representing Doctors Hospital made a comprehensive argument in court on Wednesday that the contracts signed by the UDP government with Health City Cayman Islands in 2010 and by the Unity government with Aster Cayman Medcity weeks before the 2021 election, both of which waived fees, cannot legally bind other administrations’ collection of […]
