As revenues continue to fall way below expenditures the government says it is uncertain whether salaries and wages for June will be paid on time.
However, the Cabinet said yesterday that all will be done to ensure that salaries, wages, pensions and emoluments are paid on time at each pay period; and, that essentials are provided to the nation’s many institutions for their safe operation.
The closure of the country’s borders on March 26, 2020, essentially triggered a significant reduction in economic activity and employment, both of which will remain challenging until such time as the economy is fully opened-up.
“All government employees and pensioners have been paid their salaries, wages and pensions on-time at the end of March, April and May 2020. There is uncertainty about June 30. Covid-19, the Cabinet agreed, will continue to be a threat to Antigua and Barbuda’s well-being for many months ahead.”
In an earlier interview Prime Minister Gaston Browne said this is why borders needed to be open.
“Unless we open our borders and restore our economy, we face another powerful enemy – economic collapse, high unemployment, overwhelming poverty, and no financial means to sustain ourselves,”’ he said..
“This is a time to face the inescapable truth — frankly and boldly — that we cannot take the unviable, risk-averse decision, to keep our country’s borders closed.
“Unless the economy is reopened and every possible thing is done to rebuild it; the challenges we now confront will not be overcome any time soon. That is why we must not hesitate to act and to act now.”
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God is showing who is the universe boss.
So your God caused covid ?
You’re sevearly deluded
1 Park as many of government vehicle as possible.
2 Assign a significant percentage of the police force to the traffic department.
3 Increase taxation on all out going money transactions.
4 Increase taxation on cell calls.
5 Increase work permit and extension fees,
6 Increase the cost of potable water for commercial use.
7 Tax local and international savings for nationals of more than 500K.
8 Increase import fees for private or personal items.
9 Select three simple unassuming products than we can manufacture for export and make the investment.(lemon grass tea and oil, neem oil)
10 Shake down ambassadors and envoys.
nothing about pilfering? What about removing the line item CORRUPTION in the ABLP budget
@Mel:SHAKE DOWN AMBASSADORS AND ENVOYS.YOU ARE SOMETHING ELSE. LOL.
Mel, You made some really good points here. Everybody is going to have to tighten their belts and it must begin with the top, including all managers, parliamentarians, ambassadors, cabinet members, permanent secretaries, all management types (government and private industry, hotels etc.) This will be necessary until we are through this “special period” (to borrow a term once used by Fidel Castro). Everybody must be prepared to take a pay cut temporarily. We can get through this together.
I keep on telling the people: STOP PUTTING YOUR TRUST IN POLITRICKIANS.
They are mere mortal, evil, sinful, corrupt, deceitful men. They CANNOT solve the problems that we experience each day. They can only make EMPTY, BASELESS promises to deceive and mislead.
They will tell you that the bottom is sealed…when all to well they know that it had already dropped out.
Why cannot you Antiguans open your minds to reality ! ARE YOU ALL SO STUPID, CORRUPT AND FOOLISH to continue to allow these MISLEADERS to control your minds ? For your own sakes….wake up, you fools !
All you business people, ministers of religion, calypsonians, bus drivers, taxi drivers, statutory board members, and non-nationals who foolishly and blindly just jump high and low to the dictates of your misleaders…… YOUR END WILL SOON COME !
Your fate will be the same as your misleaders.
Go ahead : Take the corrupt lucre, continue in your WRONGTEOUSNESS and you will have to face the judgement call soon.
TIME TO SAY NO TO THE CORRUPTION. I am talking to you….YES…YOU, MY FRIEND. You hear me.
OPEN YOUR MINDS NAH….. AND SEEK THE ALMIGHTY.
YOU FOOLS ! WAKE UP !
WORLD “CRYSIS”: END SOON COME !
Its a struggle for a lot of countries. Hold tight and keep faith and hope alive that the Father will work it out for us on time.
I am not to bright.How could a Nation that boasted the best GROWTH IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE IN 2019.Be so crippled and under water financially.These are supposed to be some of the brightest people on earth leading the Nation.How the heck could the country be so bankrupt.It has nothing to do with Covid-19.The Nation was spending willy-nilly for the past 6 years.Like they had monies being grown on trees.So when they needed it they picked it like ripened fruits.Now those money trees have gone into hibernation/dormant.Hopefully to come alive sometime soon.Because the poor and poorest are feeling it.Those of us who have more should share at this time.Please find it in their hearts and give.We do not need to depend on the Administration for handouts.We have the capacities as a community to take care of ourselves and neighbors.The days of selfishness are over.
Boss much of those gains went to pay the arrears and other debt left especially by the the UPP admin. Some examples (amounting over 600 million EC) are paying off the IMF debt which was in arrears when ABLP came into office (totaled some 300 million ec);Semcorp debt (some 20 million); Paying off most of the APC arrears (some 40 million and does not include the millions they won at the privy counsel). Ensuring that the loan for the airport was current. Paying off back pay which was largely accumulated under the UPP plus increasing wages by 5% (some 70 million); Providing some 36 million yearly to Social security, for at least 5 years (some 180 million), due to hole left by prior administrations, Paying Half Moon day some (80 million) due to the former admin being hot and cold on this issue
They should of save all them money they used on them free shows
Them free shows, after you consider the increases in tax revenue due to fette goers increased spending, did not cost the government much moneys. Yes you are trying to find fault but you need to find a significant (material) example
@gethefacts
I thought the CIP money paid the IMF debt. Gaston said the UPP government left $2billion in debt. If the gains paid off these debts, how come the debt is now $4billion. Your government stripped all the government agencies of their cash, so if they had to put money in social security and medical it because Gaston took all their money saying they didn’t need it.
Tap lie.
@Tap Lie, CIP revenue is not part of our GDP? In the past 6 years we have garnered around 1 billion EC via CIP. The debt when the UPP left office, when you include the off the books items (eg HMB debt, Petro Caribe deb, etct ) was over 4 billion, its now about 3 billion (69% of our 4.4 billion GDP as of the end of 2019). What the PM stated in terms of the UPP is they increased our debt by more than 2 billion
@Getthefacts
One reason labour was voted out in 2004 was because civil servants couldn’t get their salaries on time. There was no corona virus them.
Labour(at least the Lb administration) had hurricane Louis (1995), then a few years after that came 911 (2001), do you recall? Did these events happen or to your mind like the info I have quoted which can be easily googled, are best ignored? Yes UPP faced the recession but tourists still came. Covid, hurricane Looous, 911 hotels were basically locked down.
@getthefacts
How much debt did UPP inherit when they assumed Power from the previous labour government?
@DC about 1.6 billion after you subtract the Italian debt write off on some 500 million. Since it was written off, clearly it should not have been on the books. Keep in mind these were inherited debts accumulated in the earlier 50’s to up to march 2004.Would have probably included some PLM debts. It then took the UPP a decade to almost double this. DC you think based on what makes uup the UPP debt, we got value for money: (WPP, Halfmoon Bay, IMF, Side walk, Fencing scandal, Petro Caribe debt where the public had already paid for the fuel, airport runway expansion done by the Brazilian company)?
Getthefacts:Do you as an independent thinker.Believed what you have written.
The data I have presented can be easily verified by even you (debt to gdp, gdp, CIP revenue, debt payments, arrears(eg the IMF debt where Lovell stated he was busy campaigning hence had no time to ensure the loan was being serviced). Think we can both agree that your level of Independence calls for ignoring material facts. It helps to explain why you support Trump. I do get my response will fall on deaf ears, but I am hopeful others won’t be mislead by your self hate. Your comments bring back memories of books like black skin white mask (JF often quotes it to you):
““Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are
presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new
evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is
extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it
is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize,
ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”
― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
@getthefacts
Gaston got $1billion from CIP during a time when he said there was exponential economic growth. UPP did not have CIP money. They experienced the 2008 world meltdown and had to go to the IMF. Labour hasn’t built anything, did not build any infrastructure and still currently has a debt of $4billion. UPP built a new airport terminal, new parliament building and prime minister’s office. Finished Mount St John and started two other structures one of which this government could not complete without having millions of government money disappear. Don’t know if the PM is having sleepless nights as to how he is going to get out of this crisis. Maybe he will just call an election and hope labour loses so UPP has to deal with his problem.
@DC you don’t sound like you live in ANU. Let me list a few things built under this admin:
1. Fiber to the home in select communities (Crosbies, Hodges bay
Blue waters, Mt Pleasant…) Due to a recent loan from ACB, it will soon be island wise
2. 30 million in Diagnostic equipment for MSJ. Before this persons would have to go to private clinics even for Xrays
3. 2 new Reverse Osmosis plants
4. New secondary school (Sir Novelle Richards Academy)
5. University of A&B
6. Expansion of secondary schools (PMS, Clare Hall, AGS…)
7. Completion of the airport
8. 10 MW Solar PV plant, which won a regional award
9. Restoration of public buildings (min of health office, former min of education building..)
10. Sweeping and dredging of the harbor April 2015, something the UPP promised for years and cruise-ships complained about being direly needed
11. Finally 4G to ANU via APUA since the other carriers did not wish to make the investment
12. Investment in a fleet of school buses since the UPP felt it best to have their ministers huff donated ones for what seems personal use
13. Digitization of government records (biz registry, police, land registry..)
14. MSJ offering advanced surgeries (eg First kidney transplant in the OECS region)
15. New airport Cab for traffic controllers ( A unfulfilled UPP promise of over 8 years)
DC I get that you dislike the ABLP, but why ignore facts to maintain your dislike? Its no accident that the UPP base has diminished (2004 21,892 votes, 2009 21,239, 2014 17,868 , 2018: 14,440. Even in 1999, they got more votes than 2018. Clearly the UPP is stinking up the place and only the weird are ignoring the smell. Its time to bury the dead
Is it true that one of the favourite anchors at ABS TV hasn’t been paid for months? That should be looked into before we lose we lose one of the top rated anchors over there. How many others haven’t been paid?
They say the ABS anchor has just been paid. Wonder about all the workers at ABS, including the boss lady? Is she being paid?
Seems lkke Gaston Browne’s canno sprung a leak. Lord have mercy on us.
Borrow and spend like an individual maxing out all their credit cards. What happened to the $160million from the Caribbean Development Bank. Totally inept government. Where all the borrowings gone. Go into the foreign bank accounts and pay the people.
The UPP should boycott any elections called by Gaston until he cleans up the mess he created in the country. Why would UPP want to take over a bankrupt country? They would be bound to fail with an empty treasury and billions of debt. Gaston probably wants to loose any election to be rid of the mess he created. He has his millions as he says and his pension.
Boss when the ABLP admin came into office, the IMF debt was in arrears;Semcorp was threatening to stop supplying water; You may recall APC taking legal actions and at times the country in darkness for hours. The loan from the Chinese for the airport was also in arrears. Let me also remind you of the late payments under the UPP and the buildup of back pay
@getthefacts. You are just spewiing nonsense. UPP paid the government workers back pay that ALP could not pay for years. They left ABLP the CIP from which, according to them, they made 2 billion dollars. None of the debt you stated collectively reach 2 billion so where is the rest. Since you have so much facts, tell us how much borrowing this govt has done since they came into govt. While you are it, tell us about the increase in the public sector wage bill by almost 40 percent. Also, tell us what happen to the more than 15 projects that caused you to give them your X, and now not one has materialized. Look we get it, this govt track record is so bad that the only way to prop them up is to pull down UPP but sensible people will soon see that this govt is all fluff and no stuff. WORST GOVT EVER!
Zackie be logical, no one suggested that the ABLP has paid off 2 billion in debt. Where would they have even garnered sufficient funds to do such and still ensure government operations are funded? What they have done is grow the economy by some 25% these 6 years (see IMF World economic outlook). That growth which amounts to about 1 billion EC, (GDP about 4 billion so 25% of that) has been used to pay over 800 million in debt which mostly originated before 2014:
1. IMF debt which was in arrears when ABLP came into office (totaled some 300 million ec);
2. Semcorp debt (some 20 million);
3. Paying off most of the APC arrears (some 40 million and does not include the millions they won at the privy counsel).
4. Ensuring that the loan for the airport was current.
5. Paying off back pay which was largely accumulated under the UPP plus increasing wages by 5% (some 70 million);
6. Providing some 36 million yearly to Social security, for at least 5 years (some 180 million), due to hole left by prior administrations,
7. Paying Half Moon day some (80 million) due to the former admin being hot and cold on this issue
8 13 million Building a new secondary school
9. 150 million (so far)to ABI depositors, via governments depositor protection trust to ensure they did not lose their deposits
Gaston Brown is a failed experiment plain and simple. You will never admit that. You will die if necessary before you do and your last words will be : though he kill me yet will I trust in him.
UPP should just call it quits and join the Government in solidarity for the sake of the nation. UPP in themselves have nothing to offer now, and do not have good leadership, so they should look to working with the Cabinet for the sake of our future….ALP and UPP and Independent. Most people are Independents.
UPP by far did a better job .you know that. You just don’t want to admit it. You prefer we all die before you admit it. Gaston Brown has failed . Admit it.
Your thinking explains why in 2018, Lovell tried the stunt of pledging he would lower fuel costs to a level that there would essentially be no consumption tax. Let me remind you of some of the reasons why UPP lost in 2014 and then 2018:
1. The party was not unified
2. The many scandals involving Wilmoth Daniel eg Wadadli power plant mess
3. BS lackadaisical attitude always awaiting the right moment.
4. High levels of unemployment and stagnant economical growth. The figures showed us heading back into a recession
5. The UPP inability to properly implement eg. electoral commission saga, Vivian Richards stadium ban
6. Crime levels being out of control with murders especially increasing yearly
7. The UPP got out of touch with the populace
8. The UPP in 2018, inability to raise finances to fight an election due to biz people having no confidence in them. Evidence of this showed candidates on ladders putting up their own limited campaign paraphernalia
@ CErmle
Antiguans probably need a good dose of hardship to cure them of their stupidity. They had UPP that was trying to sort the mess that Antigua was in and they voted back in the Labour Party for one month free electricity. Let the brightness man in the universe and his party sort out this mess.
@Observation , Your thinking explains why in 2018, Lovell tried the stunt of pledging he would lower fuel costs to a level that there would essentially be no consumption tax. Let me remind you of some of the reasons why UPP lost in 2014 and then 2018:
1. The party was not unified
2. The many scandals involving Wilmoth Daniel eg Wadadli power plant mess
3. BS lackadaisical attitude always awaiting the right moment.
4. High levels of unemployment and stagnant economical growth. The figures showed us heading back into a recession
5. The UPP inability to properly implement eg. electoral commission saga, Vivian Richards stadium ban
6. Crime levels being out of control with murders especially increasing yearly
7. The UPP got out of touch with the populace
8. The UPP in 2018, inability to raise finances to fight an election due to biz people having no confidence in them. Evidence of this showed candidates on ladders putting up their own limited campaign paraphernali
Gaston Brown is a failed experiment plain and simple. You will never admit that. You will die if necessary before you do and your last words will be : though he kill me yet will I trust in him.
We need to make up our mind if opening the country for the economy to strive or we just open for government to collect taxes etc. Because some ways some businesses are ask to operate they cant make money so. So you find businesses that can employ 10 persons only now employing two mr pm i understand that we dont want a out break in the country but the health authorities has got to be more critical in balancing the scale so more and more people can be employ to much people not working. Young women are going with men for money because things hard. Come on open the place let people work.
i thought hurrying to open the country was going to help. its been open so whats up?
Why you rich arse Politicians do not take a pay cut.Most of you could go without a regular salary for a month.After all,you folks get all types of stipends above and beyond your regular salaries.Then again you people are greedy and very selfish.You only shared what are given to you by others.Because it is not coming from you and or out of your pockets.
🙂🙂🙂
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