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Bowen Alleges Unapproved Spending, Says Budget Masks Deficit and Borrowing
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Opposition MP Sherfield Bowen on Friday accused the Gaston Browne administration of engaging in unapproved and improper spending, arguing that the 2026 budget presentation masks significant deficits while simultaneously seeking new borrowing authority.
Speaking during the Budget Debate, Bowen said the government’s claim of a fiscal surplus does not withstand scrutiny when the figures are examined closely.
He told Parliament that the surplus is achieved by excluding key debt-related expenditures, a move he described as misleading and inconsistent with standard accounting practice.
Bowen said the budget removes debt amortization from expenditure calculations to present a positive balance, even though those obligations remain real and payable. When the figures are calculated correctly, he argued, the government is operating at a deficit, not a surplus.
He told lawmakers that based on his assessment, the budget reflects a primary deficit and an overall deficit, despite being presented as a surplus of more than EC$200 million.
Bowen also questioned why the government is seeking new borrowing authority immediately after declaring a surplus.
He noted that Parliament is being asked to approve borrowing of approximately US$600 million (about EC$1.6 billion), an amount he said far exceeds what would be necessary if government revenues were truly sufficient to meet expenditure.
“If we have a surplus, why are we borrowing?” Bowen asked, arguing that the contradiction raises serious concerns about how public funds are being managed.
He said the scale of borrowing being sought is inconsistent with the expenditure needs outlined in the Appropriation Bill, and suggested that spending is occurring beyond what is being transparently disclosed to Parliament.
Bowen linked the issue of unapproved spending to broader concerns about access to public records, saying his attempts to obtain information from state entities have been repeatedly blocked.
He argued that withholding financial and asset data prevents Parliament from verifying whether government spending has been properly authorised.
He said the pattern of deficit spending and borrowing has persisted for years, despite repeated assurances that public finances are improving. “It is not getting better,” Bowen told Parliament. “It is getting worse.”
The government has not yet responded directly to Bowen’s claims.
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Isn’t this going to be similar borrowing just like the UPP did under Baldwin Spencer when approaching the IMF?
Does this also mean that when the UPP return to power in 2028 that they’ll have to repay this massive borrowing and clear up Gaston Browne’s financial mismanagement and mess?
You couldn’t make this s%#t up…
If Sherfield Bowen had not been in that fallout episode with Lester at the time as he stoop up for integrity, he would a be the prime minister and leader of the ALP because he is way more intelligent than Gaston and anybody else in the ALP.
He sounded prime ministerial on the budget debate.
Why can’t you people understand that the Idiot is going to borrow us out of debt? The joke is really on us.
I listened to Parliament yesterday and Hon. Rawdon Turner and Hon. Prime Minister accused two UPP Members of Parliament RIPPED off the Tax payers of Antigua and Barbuda for not paying the DUITES / TAXES on the vehicles. One member did not pay the DUTIES on 10 ( TEN ) VEHICLES. The other one also did not pay the DUTIES on His vehicles.
Hon. Gaston Browne these Guys should be brought before the court . They are bunch of HYPORITES. These Guys had the Seniors of UPP demonstrating in the hot sun. They should be kicked out of Parliament.
Please Hon. Gaston Browne DO NOT let this rest. The two UPP members of UPP should be charged for RIPPING off the tax payers. They are CROOKS.
CRIMINAL Sherfied Bowen should never be in Parliament . Kiz Johnson will clean His slate. He would never return to Parliament.
@. ZEENA
You are correct. The nerve that SERPENT and PRINGLE have to Their UPP members protesting VEHICLE GATE , now to find out They are EMBROILED in the VEHICLE GATE. THIEVES. THIEVES. I hope that Serpent will pay back $150,000 and Pringle $20,000.
I hope a class action suit can be brought against ALGERNON SERPENT WATTS and JAMALE PRINGLE to pay back these monies to the TREASURY. THIEVES. THIEVES.
@m.evers: have you considered that you could call the whole bunch of ALP ministers criminal on a larger scale, when people die at hospital because the government minister stole the funds for medicine and machinery it’s blood on their hands, over all the ALP organization has more blood on their hands than any criminal on Antigua, look at the cancer center built by upp tenure in office , and now it’s a big headache planning for ALP to reopen it to help the people with cancer care,are you sp insensitive, ask the grieving families who lose love ones because they can’t travel like the ministers for medical treatment, remember Michael Browne just had a chest pain was airlifted to cayman islands to check up, then departed to Miami to burst a lime and shopping there after?
As usual ignorant talk from Bowen. These are not new debts but in general old debts(many from the UPP 10 year term) being rolled over. Heard his rant regarding the national debt figure has increased but he ignored the unbooked debts left by the UPP(Half moon bay debt (80 million), Debt to APC (222 million), dept to WIOC (90 million) Sembcirp (22 mllion) debt, IMF Loan (320 million). Government then had to stand by depositors of ABI bank and accept a 300 million debt in order to make depositors whole
“When a country borrows money merely to present a FACADE to the rest of the world and that is to say,look how rich we are in foreign exchange,debt to gross domestic product 61%, a surplus of 200 million ec,tax free salary,free tertiary education, free turkey and ham ,soon G.B will be offering free sanitary napkins and pampers .If that foreign exchange springs from loans,you really are not achieving anything that is WORTHY of PRAISE.It is all about buying VOTES.There is nothing FREE in this world the only thing that is FREE is the AIR we breathe.
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