Cash crunch

Barbadians who were hoping to receive their income tax refunds before Christmas will have to wait a little bit longer.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Ryan Straughn admitted on Monday that while some refunds had been paid, Government was strapped for cash and was not in a position to pay all the outstanding refunds at this time.

Straughn explained that Government had expended a significant amount of its resources in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and in recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Elsa and the ashfall.

He said that, as a result, the current cash flow was limited.

“Income tax returns have started to pay; however, I think what the public should appreciate is that while we have seen increased revenue, we’ve also foregone revenue but Government’s expenditure has actually increased like everybody else as well, so we have a number of departments that have been requesting additional funds for electricity.

“So there is a slight issue with cash flow with respect to the interventions that we have made to forego revenue…. Most of them have been paid and I urge the public’s patience. We have been faithful with respect to the paying of the income tax refunds. We hope that we can get past this cash crunch,” Straughn pointed out during a press conference at Government headquarters.

Minister Straughn highlighted the spending that government has had to do since last year.

“I want to say that when the ash fell in April of 2021 and then we had the Hurricane Elsa in July, you would recall at that time we were still having the facilities outside of Harrison Point being stood up for the Delta variant [of the COVID-19 virus ], so the demand for cash literally to respond to the ash, the hurricane as well as the Delta surge really meant that we had to manage literally what we were going to do, given that we had to respond very quickly to those immediate concerns.

“And, therefore, in 2021-2022 there was significant pressure because of those events on the demand for cash outside of what Government had planned to be able to execute during the year. Therefore, you’ve seen that it has had an impact, obviously, on some of those matters.”

Straughn added: “The demand for cash has been quite intense and that’s why we feel that once we are able to complete the repairs of the structures for Hurricane Elsa then that should moderate the cash crunch on Government, but we have gotten over that but obviously with everything else that has happened, it clearly would have an impact with respect to the timeliness. So, it’s not us for lack of a better term being wuffless…” the minister maintained.

Straughn said despite the challenges, Government was still in a position to continue with the Adopt-A-Family programme as well as other initiatives.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb