Last week the opposition, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) went to Andros to save an island that was never in danger and then hurried to Grand Bahama to celebrate the opening of a bridge rebuilt by the Free National Movement at Fish Hole Road, when they did not celebrate the opening of the bridge which they had commissioned at the very same locations which was washed away by Hurricane Dorian.  But they decided to wrap the week by attempting persuade the Bahamian public that if they, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), was in power then they could have prevented the economic downgrades that the country recently experienced.

“Double Dip – COVIP Fallout Sees Two Point Downgrade” – The Tribune – 26 June 2020

Excerpt from this article; “The ‘extraordinary beating’ inflicted upon the tourism industry by COVID-19 was critical in Moody’s decision yesterday to strip The Bahamas of its ‘investment grade’ credit rating, the deputy prime minister says.

K Peter Turnquest, responding to the rating agency’s move to slash The Bahamas’ sovereign creditworthiness by two notches to ‘Ba2’, told Tribune Business there was little the Government can do to improve this situation in the short-term given that the priority remains protecting families, businesses and the wider economy against the worst of the pandemic’s fall-out.”

Of course the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) jumped at the opportunity to attempt to criticize the government who had criticized them for the numerous economic downgrades under their watch that had left the country’s credit rating at junk status.

“We note that Moody’s credit ratings service has now downgraded our credit rating several levels, firmly into junk territory.  In fact, being downgraded two notches on the credit front, and being given a negative outlook is really a triple whammy.

This is the second major rating agency to downgrade The Bahamas this year, after S&P pushed us further into junk territory.   This is unfortunate for the country and for the taxpayers, who will have to pay more for debt servicing, but it is not totally unexpected.  Moody’s warned in April when we were placed under review that we would be downgraded if they did not see a credible fiscal and economic policy response from the government.

They clearly did not.

This latest budget, as we noted, did not inspire confidence here at home, or in the world’s financial markets.

While we did experience the economic shock stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, it is clear that the response has not met the challenge before us.  Its response to Dorian was similarly anemic and slow.

We see a pattern when it comes to this administration responding to crises.

We warned them to take progressive steps early to mitigate the fallout from COVID-19, but this administration did not.

We warned them about taking action quickly for filling financing needs, this administration dithered.

Now this action by Moody’s will make borrowing more difficult and more expensive.  It is telling that Moody’s questions if they government will even be able to adequate fulfil its financing needs.”

Mr. Cooper goes on to reference several recommendations that they had given to the government to avoid this economic downgrade, none of which would have prevented it, while at the same time conceding that downgrade was to be expected but not for the reasons that he is trying to persuade right thinking people that it was expected.

While Mr. Cooper would wish to mislead the public and have them believe that the  present government has done nothing right as it pertains to the economy, I would just like to interject at this point that on 22^nd February 2019, Moody’s had changed our economic outlook from negative to stable while affirming the county’s Baa3 credit rating.  This would dispel the lie of Moody’s not seeing a credible fiscal and economic repose from the government, like the deputy leader of the opposition would put it.

Personally I find it very difficult to take financial advice from a person who aligns himself with a political organization who, while in governance, had the country undergo four of five economic downgrades under much better financial conditions that we are under at the present time; and still have no viable explanation for any of them.

As I have stated above, the opposition gave several suggestions, none of which would have prevented the recent downgrades and for one simple reason, the downgrades have been experienced because the country’s main source of revenue; tourism; has been brought to a halt by the COVIP-19 pandemic, which has the entire world hostage at this time.

The deputy leader of the opposition suggested that we borrow $2bn to help the economy along, when money was “cheap’ but without a viable way of repaying the debt this would have incurred would have us right where we are today – the suggestion in ludicrous.

I find it amazing that the opposition would even allow the deputy leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) to voice an opinion such as this openly, given the party’s track record of gross mismanagement of the country’s economic affairs in the past.

The plain truth is this, we have been downgraded due the very same economic woes which plague the rest of the world at this point and for the opposition, and for anyone else to say differently would be to tell a lie.

The PLP fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END