S2.E18: Big Promises, Whopping Deficit: Budget Pt1

The Big Issues

The government has unveiled the 2022 budget with a gargantuan deficit, promising an increase in its capital spending, a faster economic recovery, and the customary raft of planned private investments. Of an XCD $1.6 billion budget for 2022, the government intends to borrow roughly $0.6 billion of that amount. That means more than a third of this years spending is intended to come from borrowing as opposed to recurrent revenue. In this episode analysts take their first look at budget 2022 to see what can be gleaned from its numbers, its policies and the politics of what many assume to be an election year.

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on February 6th, 2022. The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:

1. Carlon Knight, Socio-economic and political affairs commentator.
2. Dr. Dave Ray, an elections analyst and campaign organizer. He was a Campaign Field Organizer for the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. He is an internationally known Cosmetologist.
3. Dr. Thomson Fontaine, an economist currently working in South Sudan. As an economist, he worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 13 years. His work and writing have focused on growth, currency crises, development, fiscal management, and debt. He is from Dominica and was a Senator there previously.
4. Peter Queeley, a Montserrat-based economic and financial analyst and a social and political commentator. Peter Queeley worked with the Ministry of Finance, Government of Antigua and Barbuda in the areas of budgeting and economic management. He has lectured in the areas of Micro & Macro Economics, Caribbean Business Environment, Banking and Risk Management for the UWI through the Antigua State College and the UWI Open Campus. His training is in economics and in financial management.

Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.