Premier To Penn: How Will Plans Be Funded?

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(PLTM) - Premier and Minister for Finance Andrew Fahie wants Opposition Leader Marlon Penn to disclose how the Opposition’s numerous economic stimulus suggestions would be funded if they were to be implemented by the Government of the Virgin Islands.

On Monday, Hon. Penn disclosed several recommendations that the government should implement in an effort to assist from the unemployed residents to the struggling small business owners.

At the time, Hon. Penn said, the suggestions were brought forward because of the ‘inability to present a fully-articulated economic stimulus plan’ to date by the Fahie administration.

In a Tuesday, May 19, 2020, live broadcast, Premier Fahie said: “As with any plan, the challenge is—how do you raise the funds to finance these initiatives? Who will be paying for them? Anyone can just list out lofty activities for millions of dollars, but the question is, how will these things be paid for? Who will pay for them? This is what the tri-party Opposition and their operatives have failed to tell you the people, and it is why his pronouncements must be approached with extreme caution.”

The Premier pointed out that the people are aware that “the Territory’s financial resources are not limitless.”

Furthermore, he said, this is the case because his regime is under certain constraints that were not of this government’s making. He said, some of the factors which have caused the limitations are as a result of poor management and poor decisions by previous administrations, the “majority whom now form the Opposition.”

He pointed out that one of those includes the financial services industry.

“The financial services sector has suffered a decline of millions of dollars due to measures such as beneficial ownership and open registry that were imposed by external forces. The former government did not implement any plan to contain this situation, and hence the decline in this industry. This resulted millions of dollars less to take care of the needs of you, the BVI public,” the Premier stated.

However, he stated, that it was noteworthy that ‘most of the basic suggestions and priorities listed in the document put forward by the tri-party Opposition and their operatives, such as in the area of agriculture and fisheries, were already contained in the Government’s plan and have long been in the public domain.”

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