New Chief Financial Officer outlines turnaround in finances
New Turks and Caicos Islands Chief Financial Officer Stephen Turnbull officially took up his new position today.
New CFO Stephen Turnbull (left) is welcomed by Governor Ric Todd (right)
Turnbull revealed that the TCI public finances ended the financial year to 31 March 2013 with an operating surplus of $47.6m, an $85.7m improvement on the same stage 12 months earlier. The strong performance is due in part to the $28.2m worth of civil recoveries secured for the TCI taxpayer.
“The financial year 2012/13 is unusual in that its first seven months was recorded under the reforming Interim Administration, while the second part of the year was under the government elected in November 2012,” said Governor Ric Todd.
“I would like to thank everyone involved in improving the public finances of the TCI: our civil servants, advisors, and, of course, our outgoing CFO, Hugh McGarel-Groves. I am sure that we would all wish to thank him for his efforts on TCI and to wish him success in the future.”
Stephen Turnbull added, “These figures are the result of great deal of hard work and some difficult decisions. They reveal the strength of the vastly improved public finances and the positive inheritance provided to the new elected government. They also show that there are significant one-off payments made to TCIG that boosted the figures which, taken together with the considerable improvements in the fiscal situation, have enabled us to build up over $41m in the sinking fund which will be used to pay off the debts incurred by the previous elected government.
“TCI cannot of course rest on these laurels. It retains an unsustainable level of debt that will not be financeable when the UK’s guarantee period ends in 2016 without a good track record of sound financial management and a substantially larger sinking fund. I know from discussions in Cabinet that the importance of sustaining and developing these improvements and maintaining a strong fiscal position is a joint priority.”