New CIG faces UK takeover of public purse
(CNS): The revised prediction for public finances over the next two years, which shows a massive turnaround from a healthy forecast surplus to a deficit, not only leaves the next administration with problems funding existing spending obligations and its political agenda but the potential intervention of the UK.
The pre-election finance report’s grim revised forecast suggests that the next government will breach the Public Management and Finance Act at the end of this year and next.
If it doesn’t make spending cuts or raise more revenue to balance the books before the year-end, the Cayman Islands will lose control of its budget to the British government.
The Pre-Election Economic and Financial Update, which was published in the government gazette last week, was compiled by the chief officer of the finance ministry and his senior team of public servants. It is based on current economic conditions, financial performance trends, and the estimated outturn for 2025 and 2026 as of the end of March.
As things stand, the Cayman Islands Government is now forecast to be compliant with only five of the six Principles of Responsible Financial Management that are set out in the legislation.
The breach this year is directly related to the requirement for an Operating Surplus as the CIG is currently on track for a core government deficit of CI$26.2 million by the end of this year. But the situation will be even worse in 2026.
If the new administration cannot turn things around, it will not only have an operating deficit of $44 million but will also not have the minimum amount of cash in its accessible bank accounts to operate the government for 90 days. According to the report, the cash reserves will only be enough to keep the government going for less than 52 days.
This means that the UK could take over the supervision of the government’s budget. When the new government is elected, it will need to begin work almost immediately on its strategic policy statement and the budget for 2027 and 2028.
However, it will not know with any certainty what the UK will countenance if it does not address the projected deficits for both 2025 and 2026 and then find the money to replace the missing 32 days of cash reserves.
Given the UK’s own public finance difficulties that the Labour government has been battling since it was elected to office last summer, the last thing that administration wants is the additional liability of an indebted overspending territory. As a result, the current minister responsible for the territories, Stephen Doughty, could demand that the next government raise more revenue and cut spending.
CNS has contacted the governor’s office for comment on the situation, and we are awaiting a response. The report was finalised on 31 March, so it has obviously been reviewed by Governor Jane Owen, but neither she nor anyone on her behalf has commented on the concerning turn of events.
Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who still has responsibility for public finances, has also said nothing about the fiscal situation that she is leaving for her successor.
Back in October last year, she stated that she wanted the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility, which the UK imposed on Cayman and is now part of the PMFL, to be reviewed and for Cayman to be given its fiscal freedom back.
According to the government’s accountants, the forecasts in this report are contingent on stable international economic conditions, private sector growth and the absence of economic shocks resulting from natural disasters or adverse international initiatives and legislation.
Given the current global uncertainty and a pending hurricane season following the hottest year on record, things could easily end up being far worse by Christmas this year than the report projects.
In relation to the size of the economy, the Cayman Islands’ debt is manageable and expected to peak around CI$501 million at the end of this year, and it is much less than the peak debt in 2011 of CI$630 million following the 2008 global financial crisis and the subsequent recession.
At this point, the debt is expected to fall next year to $451.5 million, but with an anticipated deficit this year and next, it might not.
The debt has grown steadily over the last four years, particularly over the last two, as the government drew down on the full reserve loan amount taken out by the previous PPM-led government to cover any issue that may have arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Cayman managed to navigate that global disaster, largely because of its robust financial sector. As a result, the borrowing incurred last year is to cover the UPM’s capital projects, such as Scranton Central Park and the new Brac high school, rather than any state of emergency.
Last month, just before she departed Cayman, Sue Winspear, the former auditor general, issued a warning that the government finances could be heading for trouble, given the increasing public debt to cover capital projects and the liabilities relating to future healthcare costs for retired civil servants.
Winspear raised the alarm that the CIG could find it difficult to meet public spending obligations and service its debt in future.
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Category: Government Finance, Politics
The Royal Bermuda Regiment has launched a scholarship fund to support would-be recruits attending Bermuda College.
Its not hard for our government to also offer local UCCI & ICCI Scholarships to our CI Regiment & Cadet Core Members as an incentive to join as a recruiting member and study while training
The idea is not that far fetched
https://www.royalgazette.com/education/news/article/20250413/regiment-offers-scholarships-to-college-recruits/
Job Creation from issuing local CI Treasury Bonds Certificates
Government borrowing bonds & yields explained
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce85rl65j48o
If the Cayman Islands Government considered issuing a Tax Free Treasury Bond Certificates, over 800 Full Time well paying Jobs could easily be created with-in the CI Cadet Core and the CI Regiment to gain various expertise in variety of career fields like the US & the UK Armed Forces offer thier service members
This would help us to get idiol youths off the streets, keep them off the Streets and give them something constructive to do to while paying and traing them academically to prepare for a future career in the following fields below, like the former US President Franklin D Roosevelt did to help get people back to work in the US economy during the Great Depression.
In-addition to that, our youths could work along side our industry professionals in right here in the Cayman Islands, like the United States did by recruiting Military Personel Troops to work as service members; while encouraging consumers to spend cash in the economy to recover from the 1930’s Great Depression:
The Great Depression explained in 11 Minutes
https://youtu.be/gqx2E5qIV9s?si=AFeePecpskdeemSj
• Medical Doctors & Nursing
• Public Prosicution Lawyers
• Fin, Accounting & Administration
• National Security Intel Gathering
• Cyber Security & Information Technology
• CI Cadet Core & CI Regiment Police
• CI Cadet Core & CI Regiment Firemen
• CI Cadet Core & CI Regiment Border Control
• CI Cadet Core & CI Regiment Coast Guard
Here is an example of the United States of America Army ROTC Careers that prepare High School and College Students with training and experience that lead to professional career paths after being relieved from thier duties
https://www.citadel.edu/armyrotc/careers/
We was and still are in the worse recessession since the 1930’s and our future leaders need to connect with the past 1930’s events to decide what worked back then to stimulate the recovery of the economy; and what can work now to stimulate our economy for recovery
Sir Alden McLaughlin, MP Sabrina Turner and the PPM did a good job by creating our Regiment and getting volentary Cadet Core and volentary Regiment personell to work alongside industry professionals in our Fire Department with Fire Men, but they were only volenters, not full time paid employed service members
Here is another way that the a CI Tax Free Treasury Bond Certificates could stimulate our economy and create an additional 400 well paying jobs for Caymanians
The RCIPS, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, Customs & Border Control could build Ocean Marine Stations on the North and South Side of Grand Cayman, an Ocean Marine Station on Cayman Brac & one Ocean Marine Station on Little Cayman,. Provide each staion with (4) four Coastline Patrol Vessels and have them manned by 300 to 400 Caymanians on different 24 hour shifts
Build a proper Coast Guard Station and purchase (3) three larger 120 to150 foot British Royal Naval Fridgettes and hire an additional 200 Caymanians to man these vessels
Create a Marketing & Advertising Tourism and Commerce Digital Directory web-site with apps in the Cayman Islands for all Cruise and Stay Over Visitors and Local Residents in the Cayman Islands, Florida and the Caribbean to fund the purchase of (BOT Islands) British Overseas Territory Islands Ocean Patrol Naval Frigitte Coast Guard Vessels that could be managed by the (British FCO) British Foriegn and Common Wealth Office in conjunction with the US
Criminal investigations should be launched. Looking closely at at least 3 of the current bunch of morons. I don’t even need to mention their names because we know who they are.
Apparently criminal investigations — even convictions — don’t appear to make a whit of difference. It will likely take a PIR to make convicted criminals ineligible for holding office. They sure aren’t going to initiate that legislation themselves, are they?
And yet the same idiots will still be voted back in. The current administration will go down in history as the most corrupt and inept bunch of grifters to ever hold power.
Then do your bit and don’t vote any PPM..
That’s the only way to keep their grubby hands off our money.
The UK is what keeps the place in decent condition. Separate from the UK and it’s welcome to Jamrock!
Remember that the financial industry we have , got it’s beginnings after the Bahamas went independent.
No financial institution would put their money in a place , not having UK oversight and run by Mac Kenneth Saunders and Jujudas.
If the PPM gets elected and the present incumbents get re-elected, it will be the beginning of a new disaster , the takeover of the island’s finances is just the first step … given that corruption is deeply embedded at almost every level of governance on this island , it will be hard if not improbable to avoid an extensive Direct Rule … one that might last much longer than the one in TCI too !
High time the grown-ups intervened and sorted this mess out.
THE UK!!?? which cant even take care of its own problems with immigration and the disaster of BREXIT. PPPLLEEEAASSSEE
Brexit is great. The politicians who didnt carry it out properly are the problem.
The uk should do it and remove the pay raise they gave themselves too
And investigate!
How much junk election campaigns generate! I bet the word sustainable was and is being said many times by all candidates
We need to discuss the sustainable use of the word sustainable.
..and these PPM clowns want to build a port…we couldn’t pay for the first brown paper bag…let a lone a C.I. $2bln port…which is what it will end up costing….
Take their negotiating skills on the Dart Dump Disaster…and multiply by a factor of 1000……we’re screwed.
We have no money it seems.
We cannot afford repayment of a $450Million cost..plus interest.
We don’t have room in George Town.
We have no parking in George Town.
We have no room on our beaches.
We have no housing for thousands of economic dependents who will have to be brought in.
We have no room at Stingray city.
Our already jammed traffic and no room for hundreds more buses and taxis.
Make do with what we have without further destroying what remains of Cayman.
Yes, and we have no vision. We have no reliable, safe, comfortable public transportation. We have no bike lanes, not even on the Sister Islands, we have no plan for mitigating the dump. What we have are a series of cans being kicked down the road, always at the cost of the citizens.
Conclusion, don’t vote PPM.
Certainly don’t vote UPM quitters, AKA The Cayman Catron Party, who caused this deficit.
Or any of the independents connected and endorsed by the usual donor pandering cabal and kooky far right civil rights phobic villains. We see you Jewel, Rolston, and Stanley! #DARTfavorites #KattinaAnglinApproved #Enough
Stirling
The No-dump has cost us $17Million..so far
We are in the red $27Million.
Prison consultants being paid $8Million
Prison will cost $200Mllion.
Kenny park $10Million ..so far.
Juju school $60Million.
Kenny private jet Terminal $44Million.
Cruise piers $450Million.
You really think Cayman will be saved by PPM..?
Those responsible for putting Cayman in debt need to do forced community service billed at current minimum wage to pay off the deficit. In other words pick up garbage, clean trash off beaches, clean public toilets, and cut bush for the rest of their natural lives.
Disgrace that we have merchants who don’t give a damn About Cayman so long as their cash register rings more often.
No vote is NOT against the cruise tourism that we DO have, it’s against massive debt and destruction of what remains of Cayman’s daily life.
“Those responsible” are now in PPM..
Vote PPM and we’ll suffer another 4 years of “those responsible”.
Total incompetence. Disgracefully spending public funds like its Monopoly money or toy money. It just proves yet again you are not capable of running your own country. Disgraceful.
Rather ironic that the UK with an annual deficit approaching $100 billion and overall debt of $3 trillion is going to step in and manage the purse strings of the Cayman Islands all because of a $26m deficit.
Compared UK finances to Cayman Islands is ridiculous. CIG has a billion dollar budget with a population of approximately 85000, of which about half are Caymanian, the people who should be their first responsibility to take care of. To run up a deficit is inexcusable, and this doesn’t take into account the pension liabilities and spiraling cost of health care. On the surface it looks like mind-blowing incompetency but when it all comes out in time it is likely to be a national disaster.
Correct. And if you let the British near any money in the Cayman Islands they will steal it, as they always do
Just imagine what will come to light if the uk actually do an independent review of the public finances and dig a bit deeper into the appropriation of funds. I don’t want Whitehall rule personally, we need to govern ourselves but the outrageous spending and potentially corrupt illegal activities of persons in CIG should be bought of light. The communities of the Cayman Islands have been terribly letdown by its “leaders” and true accountability is a necessity or it will just continue.
The corruption is now ingrained. It is everywhere. Just ask any of the managers of the “known gambling dens frequented by members of the uniformed services.”
Oh, and Governor, this shits on you. Internal issues my arse. You (Your Excellency) are responsible for the police, the judiciary, good governance and the rule of law).
Whistle-blowers dating back to Brian Tomlinson just get thrown under the bus. Time to step up.
Thank you Wayne Panton for assembling the government you were warned against.
This is your legacy.
Yup, he put it all together and now that the damage is done, the idea is to distance himself from it. Now we all pay the price.
It is. He so wanted to be the Premier that he was willing to get in cohoots with a bunch of dangerous incompetents. That what he got. That what we got.
Those same dangerous incompetents have now been welcomed into the PPM wide open arms. They are now the “experienced” candidates that PPM boasts of when they talk about “proven, stable leadership”.
Sickening.
Julianna should be held personally liable, or at least made to answer. Shame.
Just imagine if Sue Winspear was Premier!.
Solution: Speed cameras, will no doubt SAVE LIVES and RAISE REVENUE for the Government. If the RCIPS isn’t going to enforce the speed limit (anywhere), it seems like a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
No, the solution is for the government of the day to act responsibly and spend wisely. $1B in revenue is way more than enough.
Agreed. We shouldn’t be encouraging increased taxation/revenue from the people as a means to cover the runaway spending of individuals who see the gov’t coffers as a blank cheque (which it is far from). The correct action simply put is, get this – reign in your spending!
And then if the perpetrators cannot afford the fines we can just put them in northward prison for more government spending to keep them. Around and around we go
More spending is not the solution. The cameras will come in overbudget and not work properly like every other capital project here.
The cameras will work like the gates at the airport parking
Never work here and those on WP’s will just ignore the fines given that it is very easy in Cayman to drive without a licence or insurance. All you would be doing is building a massive receivable on your books that will never get paid.
Public funds have been wasted by this group of incompetent politicians. Time has run out for the Cayman Islands and we are shortly going to be entering the Find Out phase of our decision to FOFO.
no mention of this mess in the ppm manifesto??????
but they are willing to take in the key players who created this shambles………zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
any comment ppm?
any comment Mrs governor?
any comment chamber of commerce?
…”…the brits will do nothing….”
Just checking in: with the latest update from the governor, can you remind us what the Brits are doing about this again?
If the Brits do anything, Saunders will shout “Colonial Imperialism”, then they’ll all go back feeding at the trough, and the Jamaicans will dance in the streets.
@1.29 Any comment Andre, Wayne, Sabrina and the rest of PAC
caymanians elect these people so you have no-one else to blame but yourselves.
and to make things worse, you also prevent the most qualified and successful people on island from being elected…
welcome to wonderland.
1:28 pm, true to all nut one, you not sitting in our parliament none a you.
In English, please?
they saved us before …hope they will do it again!
They were PPM in those days.
Now they’re fronting for UDP/UPM unemployables , poised to bite the hand that feeds them.
Voters are not entirely blameless in this debacle. They elect people and then tell them “don’t ask me. That is why we elected you.” Wrong!! We are supposed to be constantly supervising their decisions and questioning them. It is called accountability. We blame the civil servants, but in reality, they can only follow the directives they receive. Voters elect people like Julianna, Seymour, Jay, Kenny, etc.
You’re delusional. What do you think you can do after they are elected? You can protest, and that’s it.
$10 million on a park is crazy.
Check the land register to see who is buying up land around that park. Kenneff had Gowernment buy land from his buddy, the latest GT developer.
And I wonder who was the realtor…?
And just watch them get elected again. Who is more fool? The fool, or the fool that follows them?
Or maybe this was the whole plan from the beginning.
The Brac school madness needs to be stopped yesterday!
Some of the maladministration involved seems to have crossed the criminal threshold. Governor? AG? RCIP? WTAF R U?
The governor is only here for what the immigrants call a “prolonged jolly”. The police answer directly to her. Always a pleasure to host UK’s brightest and the best, and all that good stuff. zzzZzZZZzzz
What about the Brac airport expansion. There are some many ways the government wastes money. I would suspect they could get rid of 1/3 of their staff if they would just make the others do their job.
Let’s in the meantime be specific in avoiding disaster.
DON’T vote for ANY PPM candidates…change will be the first step to restoring responsible management.
If PPM are returned to office, (this time with Jujudas, DumbDumb, Mac , Kenneth and Saunders), then nothing will change and will get worse.
Awww don’t forget Jay and Isaac are Ministers and they are still spending money. Jay is widening the Frank Sound intersection – for what????
He is repairing people’s roofs as we speak. How is he allowed to continue this mad spending???
i hope so!…uk must intervene and save us from poorly educated locals mla’s and civil servants.
Are there no legal recourses against “leaders” who bankrupt our coffers??
Parliament – CORRUPT
Judiciary – CORRUPT
Civil Service – CORRUPTED
ACC – IMPOTENT
Our best bet is UK intervention.
and that is scary! UK a complete mess. Careful what you wish for….
A complete mess nah pal the uk’s doing ok in fact better than when the last lot where in
The Trump administration would be a much better solution.
100% correct.
Shut the heck up about him!
What did you expect Cayman. Juju spends like drunk sailor all while assisted by her band of merry idiots.
Proceeding with the Brac school and/or the cruise berthing facility will be the ruin of Cayman.
Vote accordingly.
The best thing that could happen to our Islands is that some mandarins (with real education and experience) from Whitehall take a good old look at our finances.
Direct rule maybe not, but definitely take the budget control out of his idiotic egomaniac clowns we call politicians.
Whilst they are at it, get the nit comb out and run it through CIGs departments in general. See which chief officers are skimming off the top to their family and friends.
Can’t do any harm.
DO NOT VOTE PPM! Juju is on that team and she destroy the government account by signing all the cash away!
please say it louder for the CBE voters who keep voting her back in because she’s allegedly bailing them out of legal troubles, paving roads, giving lil cash handouts here, there and everywhere and bamboozling them with her sermons on her stellar Christian beliefs! these poor people are so institutionalized that they can’t even see how bad she is for them and our entire islands. CBE voters please for the love of God, stop voting for this woman. she has done nothing but spend spend spend our money! the country is broke because of her and her government! please vote her out!
The last thing we need is for the UK to allow the likes of Jocco, Kenneth Bryan and Dwayne Seymour (to name only three of our potential Einsteins in government after the election) to be able to have the “fiscal freedom” to spend as they like. Can you imagine?