Bermuda finance minister delays budget delivery

HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC):

Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox, facing a mushrooming national debt, has announced that she will deliver this year's national budget a week later than planned.

Cox said the budget will be now delivered on February 18, instead of the previously announced February 11.

"Government is confident that all will work together to ensure the national budget is passed prior to April 1," she said in a statement.

Bermuda's national debt has ballooned to more than one billion (US) dollars.

Cox pledged when she became Premier in October she would cut $150 million in government spending.

The main opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) said it believed the delay in the budget was a positive step by the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP).

Acting Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said, "if the government needs more time to get this budget right, then that's fine with us.

"They've been getting a lot of good advice lately from the business community as well as the UBP and the BDA (Bermuda Democratic Alliance, the island's second opposition party), and they should embrace the suggestions and ideas because the dangers we face are real and all of us want to do what is best for Bermuda.

"This may require the government to eat some crow. It has to recognise that its actions and decisions have played a big part in putting Bermuda in the economic hole."

She added there were some concerns government had delayed the budget because the premier was still trying to meet her pledge to cut $150 million in government spending.

"We expect the budget to show real spending cuts. It is essential that the government set an example people can believe in. Smoke and mirrors over spending cuts will not do it."

'Government is confident that all will work together to ensure the national budget is passed prior to April 1.'