By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterDR. OMAR Davies, the Minister of Finance and Planning, said yesterday that Government ministries and agencies are indebted to suppliers of goods and services to the tune of $4 billion, as of October 31, 2003.
But Audley Shaw, the Opposition spokesman on finance, says the actual debt figures are much higher than suggested in a document tabled by the Finance Minister in the House of Representatives.
"First of all, it doesn't include the November and December figures," noted Mr. Shaw. Stating that the additional data may not have been available at the time, he added: "We give him the benefit of the doubt on that."
The document, a schedule of outstanding bills on both the recurrent and capital budgets, was tabled as an answer to questions put forward by Mr. Shaw in December. It noted that $2.8 billion was owed on the recurrent budget and $1.4 billion on the capital side.
On the recurrent budget, Dr. Davies' own Ministry of Finance and Planning owes a whopping $229 million. Only the ministries of national security and health, as well as the police department, outstripped that figure.
The Ministry of National Security owes $280 million and the police department has yet to pay $277 million over to its suppliers, while the Health Ministry owes more than $1 billion.
In the list provided by the Finance Minister, the Ministry of Transport and Works was reported as owing more than $1 billion on the capital side.
During yesterday's sitting, Dr. Davies made no comment on the list, which has been described in some quarters as 'conservative'.
But Mr. Shaw, who was not present in the House, told The Gleaner that the list neglected to highlight the ministries' and agencies' 'chronic arrears'. Those arrears, he said, refer to the debts carried over from previous financial years.
"The Ministry of Health alone has chronic arrears of $3 billion," said Mr. Shaw, who is also Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He noted that, added together, that would bring the Ministry's total debt to in excess of $4 billion.
"In retrospect, I should have specifically asked for all the figures," the Opposition spokesman said.
Mr. Shaw also told The Gleaner that the Government's rate of bill payment was disturbing. Noting that more than half the recorded debts were more than 90 days past due, he argued that suppliers could ill afford to go without being paid for more than 30 days.
The listing highlighted debts under 30 days old, between 30 and 60 days old, between 60 and 90 days and over 90 days old. Notably, $1.4 billion of the outstanding recurrent debt was more than 90 days old.
