Leader of the Opposition and Member of Parliament for Marco City, the Hon. Michael Pintard participated in a press conference on Wednesday where he responded to the 2024-2025 budget communication.

Flanked by members of his parliamentary caucus and Free National Movement supporters Pintard told reporters, “we believe that this administration is continuing to destroy its credibility. And because of the lack of candor on the state of the nation’s finances it is clear that we are having a cash crunch with this administration not withstanding their boast about revenue.”

Pintard also mentioned the state of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) saying that employees of the nation’s power company are being kept in the dark about its future. “The employees have no real assurance as to who they will be working for. Will it be the Government of The Bahamas or one of the agencies that the government is going to privatize BPL between.”

The Opposition Leader said the deficit is of great concern. “The deficit at $214 million over nine months is in fact beyond the $132 million that they actually projected.”

The Prime Minister announced during the communication that the government intends to purchase the former International Bazaar in Grand Bahama. On the issue of Grand Bahama’s rebound Pintard questioned the promised development of the island’s airport. He said, “we would like to know what is the government’s timetable with respect to the development of Grand Bahama’s international airport and what has happened to the berm, this the protective barrier that would protect both the business community and the airport which was supposed to be a part of the first phase of the development of the airport.”

The annual budget debate begins in the House Of Assembly on June 5th.

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