UK asks for overdraft cut
(CNS): Although the UK has allowed the Cayman Islands government to temporarily more than double the $27 million overdraft it had appropriated under the two month stop-gap budget in June to a whopping CI$66 million, the director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has said it must be dramatically cut within less than six months. Colin Roberts told the premier by email that the temporary borrowing must be reduced down to $15 million by 1 February of next year. The premier read out correspondence from Roberts to the Finance Committee on Friday afternoon, in which he confirmed that the UK had finally accepted the CIG’s budget for 2012/13.
Bush said the terms and conditions that came with the budget approval were not new as the government was aware that it would be conditional on these four requirements, though he did not state why he had not revealed this prior to the announcement on Friday afternoon.
In his email to Bush, sent on behalf of OT Minister Henry Bellingham, Roberts points tothe need for the Cayman government to follow the agreement. “I would like to reiterate the importance the minister attaches to the delivery of the fiscal plans,” Bush read from Roberts' email.
“We all knew the hard work that had to be done and our strategy in bringing the budget has paid off,” Bush said as he hit out at his critics who had said he should not have brought the budget until he had UK approval.
Before Finance Committee started, the deputy premier lauded Bush for what she said was his “exemplifying leadership role” during what she described as “the most strenuous and trying and complexing time.”
Speaking, she claimed, on behalf of the government members as well as her constituents and what she said was the wider public, Juliana O’Connor Connolly said it would be remiss of her not to express admiration and congratulations to the premier for following his gut feeling and delivering the budget.
Category: Politics
"Colin Roberts told the premier by email that the temporary borrowing must be reduced down to $15 million by 1 February of next year."
I will believe that when I see it.
There is a general consensus that the civil service is overpopulated, that it is inefficient, and that it’s one of the biggest expenditures this country has. I say why haven’t we had our Beloved Auditor General review or recommend a review by a local team of experts drawn from various disciplines and affiliations to conduct a review of processes and services and provide Government and the people of the Cayman Islands within a six month period a report of where we are and where we need to be.
The reason for not wanting to consider the Accounting firms, is that we have had them make reviews and reports for years which have been terribly expensive ,in many cases not followed and in others have decisively said what Government wanted them to say.
We need to stop blustering on issues, we need not be rabble rousers and anti government policies if we can offer positive crticism with respect and willingness to participate physically in the process of making this country better. To those who day to day sit and devise words of anger,hate and diviseness ; remember that you are not helping to make it better but making others here and abroad distance themselves further from this country and you are assisting in creating an environment ripe for violence and chaos. Use your voices positively and not hastily. Respect and you will be respected.
May God continue to watch over and Bless these Islands that “He has founded upon the Seas”
I just puked a little in my mouth after reading this. These foo foo’s make me sick.
“exemplifying leadership role” “admiration and congratulations to the premier”
May I be the first to say WTF!!!
Talk about underachievers patting each other on the back! This government could not have wasted more money (and continue to waste money) if they wanted to (ok we all know they could). But seriously what a joke!
Please Cayman get these idiots of office ASAP!!!
It was interesting to hear Minister Anglin in finance committee again try to spin this as the PPM's fault. According to him the UK is worried about our debt service ratio and not the level of expenses. Why then minister did the FCO not insit that we pay off some of the debt and why did they give you such a hard time reducing the expenditure? If they were not worried about the cash position they certainly would not have held up the budget for so long. Please add some originality and creativity to your excuses we are tired of hearing thie same old excuse year after year. I have not heard of 1 single economic policy or change that is going to improve our financial position, just more empty promises as usual. This budget is going to turn the economy around ? do you really expect us to swallow that ?
The UDP and PPM have been digging Cayman into a financial hole for the last decade.
Finally, the UK has given them a smaller shovel.
Smaller shovel wont stop him… he got dynamite remember!!
McKeeva and JOCC have now officially decoupled from reality if he is claiming victory and she is expressing admiration on behalf of the electorate.
You two and your cronies made such a mess of things for so long that the UK had to step in and sort it out like an angry parent. That is not a success and it does not reflect well on either of you, no matter how loudly and publicly you congratulate yourselves.
The pronouncements of a man in complete denial – spin-doctoring at it’s very worst. As for Ju Ju’s endorsement – hardly a person whose opinion sensible people would seek. He and government are well and truly hog-tied, with financial constraints which of themselves are the equivalent of the electronic ankle bracelets fitted to people under house arrest. Accepting the Terms and Conditions imposed by the FCO, plus the directive to urgently reduce the “floating” credit facility must, for bush, have been as painful as quadruple root canals at one sitting. As for the embarrassment he should be feeling in consequence of his role as Minister of Finance being reduced to a sort of “honorary” title – doubtless his impervious belief in his abilities will act as a “Band Aid” to cover the wound. It is a sad reflection that, had the Financial Secretary, and bush’s sycophantic cabinet, stood up to him, and opposed many of his hare brained schemes, and uncontrolled expenditure, we might not now be in the position in which we find ourselves. And, in this position, we can only pray for the miracle which is needed to produce the Revenue bush has projected will be generated in the next 9/10 months
The entire country is NOT surprised by this. MacKeeva has been playing his "tricks" not realising that everyone else around him is smarter than him and sees through his tactics. How else was this to turn out. It is no surpsise that he has led Cayman down this path. Of course the UK was not going to make the same mistake that it did with TCI, as it does not have the human resources to directly govern this country, but it has tied Cayman up in a neat bow thanks to the as Ezzard says the INCOMPETENT UDP government and i mean all of them. Whilst some of the initiatives are good, much of them thanks to MacKeeva have taken away some 40 years worth of political and financial automomy of this country. Now we have entered into an era of micro management, So all of us now, again thanks to the INCOMPETENT UDP Government who spent the last three years spinning a web around themselves will have along hard road to recovery.
Bottoms up MacKeeva and crew. At least you have now sealed your fate in the annals of history as being the worst government that Cayman has every seen. You got your fame, not exactly how you wanted it but, hey, be careful what you ask for, As you have now taken up saying "It is established" that you were, are and will eternally be unfit to represent this country on a national level. It was all of your own doing… ever heard of giving a person enough rope to hang himself? Congratulations, you just lived through that experience.
I leave my fellow readers with these pearls of wisdom "the love of money is the root of all evil." To aspiring politicians, becoming a politician is about service, not self service, anyone who comes out of politics rich is a thief and is corrupt. How do politicians whose sole sources of income come from a salariesof less than 100K a year become millionaires? as Hamlet says "… That is the question…" The proof of the pudding is in the eating, quite frankly what this government is offering as a "tasters choice" is not fit to be eaten. Spit it out Cayman.
Away with croniism and patronage. Time for Pride, Love and Integrigy.
Well said. However, if anyone seriously believes that the UK wouldn't impose direct rule over this government then please think again. It may not have been pretty, but the TCI intervention has produced some remarkable results in such a short time, including bringing the economy back from the darkness of huge deficit and endemic corruption to a position firmly in the black.
Great Britain has never really ruled any of her dominions by flooding a country with officials, the establishment was never big enough to allow such a direct hands on approach. Rather, she did what most successful empire builders did and utilised the the home peoples to rule themselves under British direction. A case in point is India, a vast country which could never have been policed by the British alone, it relied on Indian civil servants to administer British rule.
In the modern era, the same modus operandi still functions, although with a much higher degree of independence. In the case of a more direct administration, most government tasks would still be undertaken by the domestic civil service but there would be much closer monitoring and a degree of outsourcing to ensure probity and compliance.
In reality, that is exactly what has happened. This is only the first step, if Cayman doesn't come up with the goods, further controls will inevitably follow. Don't be surprised if some government tasks are out sourced to the private sector and job justification measures are introduced. Like it or not, the deficit and borrowing levels will come down and a degree of pain will accompany it until the CI government controls its spending and raises its productivity. The vast sums of money that are being allocated to such a small community and population have got to be stopped.
The UK made a mistake with the TCI? Not sure I agree with that statement. Their Premier was XXXX blatently stealing from the people of TCI and the UK had little choice but to step in. Clearly the elected representatives could not be trusted to govern without putting their greedy hands in the cookie jar and putting their own enrichment about looking after the people. Of course that would *never* happen here.
Oh and I am sure the UK could easily bring together a very good number of bright, intelligent ethical individuals who could govern this place with their eyes closed.
If you are open, honest, ethical and not trying to hide what you are up to, it is not hard. Of course if you are lying, cheating, stealing, buying votes or trying to push your own adjenda or steer deals to your own companies, of course you are gonna have a lot to worry about. Trying to remember all those lies and cover ups is not easy. It can take a lot out of a guy. Of course if you are truthful and honest from day one, you have nothing to fear.
As I have said before, here we have Cammy and Belly slowly and gently imposing an austerity budget. Apparently, they are not capable of new learning, even from their own failed experience and would rather stick to ideology.
Go ahead, take more money out of the economy, a sure fire way to get yourself out of a recession (not).
Dont be riculous, how can you liken the Cayman economy to the UK, there are arguments for easing the British austerity, but they simply dont apply to Cayman. Your economy is almost totally driven by others doing business in your jurisdiction. That business is very mobile, and will not hang around if you make it uneconomic. so the fees they pay to your government to cover your overspend cannot be raised indefinitely. You have no choice but to get real on your spending because already, business is beginning to move. To think that a 1930's Hoover type of Government spend to stimulate your economy will work is plain idiotic. The worst risk is that Bush, having promised to appoint a budget committee will simply appoint his cronies, and ignore the promise on borrowing, then you are down the tubes!
WOW, you can really read a lot into a post. All I said was that, taking more money out of the economy, through job cuts, salary cuts, benefit cuts, etc., right now, would be poorly timed.
I truly favour cutting government, just not during a recession.
Some of the major problems with the "rollover policy" were that it was implemented 1) during an economic downturn; 2) was effectively made retroactive; 3) caused an immediate outflow of $$'s from the economy as affected individuals immediately stopped spending disposable income and started sending money "home".
Imposing an austerity budget right now will simply exacerbate the problems of low cash flow and make issues for the small/medium size businesses worse.
Thats it, reverse gear as quick as you can. Typical, soon as someone makes an informed and educated challenge to a side swipe and the idiot notion that Cayman's economy can be in any way compared to the UK, the back tracking begins. Your second post was much more considered and balanced, you obviously learnt something from today's lesson.
Less smoke and mirrors room for the Bushmaster, good move UK.
I forward a motion to ring up DMX and Sisqo to organise an official response.
What? Unna gah mek me lose my mind. Up in ya. Up in ya.
Ya dun kno' bredrin' …
Da UK don't know "Who We Be"!!
"Da chicken … iguana … da babies … da mommas …"
🙂
– Ruff-Ryda Mac
Wash his feet for him St Julianna.
It will be fun to sit back and watch the UK make Mac do the macarena in the coming months…
Does the UK want anything else???
Every day it seems that the UK is demanding more.
From what Mac said he knew the conditions all along he just chose not to share them with the people. It looks more like a case of Mac is revealing more each day not the UK is demanding more each day. That is if we can believe the Premier.
The UK wants a sustainable and credible budget and financial management. It must be most frustrating not to get it and having to place such restrictions. The Miller Report in 2009 gave very clear guidance on how to manage the Country's finances – it is a great shame and to the detriment of us all that such sound advice has largely been ignored.
Well, it is their island.
"AMEN" 1905 it, that is the reason why I cannot figure out why people who are not from here wants to take it over. It is our Island, leave us alone and keep quiet if you do not have Cayman Status.
I think the poster meant the UK's Island.
Oh dear – you eejit – read the comment again
10:17, why are you on a forum that requires reading?
We “took it over” from a few turtles and a couple of pirates. It has been ours since then and too many people forget that.
Actually it belonged to Spain and was officially ceded by the Treaty of Madrid in 1670. But that aside we are only British for as long as we prefer it that way. We can choose to make it not so at any time.
Same old British colonial mentality.
Actually, you can't because you've not been given permission to do so. And, give us all a break, you make it sound as if the British came with an all conquering army to surpress the poor 'Caymanian' people. Those original settlers came from the UK and claimed these islands for their King and Country, hence the Union Flag. As they only numbered in the low thousands right up until 50 years ago, these islands were never seen to be prime piece of real estate or a class provider of colonial treasure. In fact, apart from turtle meat, this island was a mosquito ridden swamp for its first 450 years, it was only with the foresight of the UK and other financial centres that Cayman started to enjoy the growth and wealth that it was, until recently, world famous for.
Successive waves of immigration from Jamaica, Honduras, Cuba and a multitude of other countries have resulted in an island that has lost its original identity and its loyalty to the mother country, Great Britain. That in itself is not a bad thing, cultures can mix and produce a vibrant society, however the Cayman way is to deny this very obvious mix of races and cultures, then harp back to a 19th century existance that was based on subsistance farming and fishing. An existance that was neither comfortable or economically productive outside of these islands.
Cayman, as the world knows it, was established by British families, under the British flag and has been developed by Britain in to one of the worlds leading financial centres within a life time. It is a British territory and its people are British Citizens who carry British passports.
So when you crow on about independence and going your own way, remember, these islands belong to the British Crown as they have since 1670, they are not a product of imperial or colonial conquest and do not qualify for independence until the UK government gives its express permission to hold a vote on the matter. That is a very unlikely scenario given the mess that this country is in and in any case, with a third of the voting public not registered, a yes vote to independence is highly unlikely.
The "official ceding" was only "official" to the Spanish, it was British territory from the moment a Brit set foot on it. If you want to go independent then do it. We will watch you sink like the many neighbours arround you. But if you don't want independence then the last few years have shown that more power needs to be returned to London, because to be frank Cayman can't handle what it asked for.
Numpty, read the front cover on your passport if you have one or if you can. It clearly says British Citizen, Cayman Islands. The clue is in the word BRITISH as is the presence of the Governor, the RCIP Commisioner, Auditor General, the FCO and the Union Flag.
Difficult isn't it.
Yeah, fiscal responsibility.