TCIG can afford to do lower LIVING COSTS; surplus hits $73 Million says Finance Minister

Residents and politicians agree, the cost of living in the Turks and Caicos is especially high. It has been a regretful admission and an enduring complaint respectively over the years, even more so in the 2022/23 financial year.

A deadly cocktail of inflation over dependence on imports, almost no local food production, low exports, and a resource stifling war, has left the Turks and Caicos’ residents paying exorbitant prices on nearly every front, from food to gasoline to housing.

Despite several programs implemented in the financial year (2022/23), the Government has not quite managed to bring costs down significantly or even to cut the prices where they tend to balloon most significantly, at the ports.

Last year, the PNP Government stepped in with three programs to buffer residents from inflation: The Food and Fuel Tax Break (April 2022), the Bread Basket Duty Exemptions (August 2022), and the Fuel Factor Stabilization Credit (October 2022). Introduced alongside various stimulus payments, the credits were aimed at taming food, electricity, and gasoline costs.

Together, these were initially projected to cost the Government $ 21.5 million. That is $15 million for the Food and Fuel Tax Break, an initial 4 million for the Bead Basket exemptions and 2.5 million for the Fuel Factor.

It took some time, the measures suffered some technical setbacks but they eventually worked to lessen the strain and were given multiple extensions.

Still, Magnetic Media fielded residents’ questions, asking ‘whether this was the most the Government could do?’ The Government made it clear that the buffer was just that, a buffer, not a magic wand to eliminate the historic inflation rate entirely.

With the programs and inflation slowly decreasing globally, prices in the country eased a bit in all three areas. However, revealing public conversations with a leading shipper exposed that the Turks and Caicos uniquely pays more for goods brought in.  Having little exports, many learned, drives up the cost of imports which come largely from the USA.

Giving credence to the concerns that more could be done to reduce the cost of living in TCI, The Turks and Caicos Islands Government reported that revenue in 2022 took no significant hit from the three programs, which reduced or eliminated Government taxes on select commodities.

In fact, revenue earned on imports from January – September 2022 increased by 45.7 percent, or $497.5 Million, according to the Trade Report of April 2023.

The Budget Communication delivered by the Hon E Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, Investment & Trade, further revealed that TCIG underspent its initial $388 million Budget for 2022-2023 by a whopping $48 million. That contributed to an ‘operating surplus’ of $73 million.

It now brings to the surface, yet again, that the TCI Government with only $600,000 in debt, tens of millions in surplus, and the understanding that the country’s unique position which forces the costs of fuel, food, electricity, and housing to be unrelentingly high, can afford to do more.

For the 2023/24 financial year E Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier and Finance Minister, has promised that with record profits recorded, cost of living is one of the main items the Government is looking to address. On the way, is a trio of social programs and port upgrades to make importation cheaper.