An audit of the Consolidated Fund’s financial statements was tabled in the House of Assembly today.

The Auditor-General highlighted in her report that the statements were considered to fairly reflect the financial positions of the fund with the exception of one matter.

The Consolidated Fund is the general operating fund through which the Government conducts the majority of its transactions, while the financial statements include the accounts of the Senate, the House of Assembly, all government departments and offices, and all courts.

Wayne Furbert, the Junior Minister of Finance, said: “The 2023-24 fiscal result is indicative of the Government’s ability to prudently manage discretionary current and capital expenditures.”

He said the Auditor-General had qualified her audit opinion in relation to the assessment of the Government’s compliance with a new accounting standard that came into effect on April 1, 2022.

This relates to the estimates associated with the legal obligations for the eventual retirement of tangible capital assets and the associated disclosures.

Mr Furbert said: “The Government has undertaken considerable work since the introduction of this standard in the 2022-23 fiscal year, using its team of internal professionals along with the engagement of external experts, resulting in the Government recognising a liability and the related expenses in the March 31, 2024 financial statements.

“The March 2023 comparatives have been restated to show the effect of the adoption of the standard.”

The Auditor-General made a note that the usefulness of the financial statements is limited because they are not summary financial statements.

Mr Furbert explained: “In other words, they do not represent the combined financial position and activities of all government entities, only the Consolidated Fund.

“This section of the report does not alter the Auditor-General’s opinion on whether the financial statements are presented fairly.”

He said of note in the report was that the all-inclusive result on an accounting accrual basis for the year ending March 31, 2024 was a deficit of $161.5 million, which was lower than the previous year’s deficit of $270.5 million.

Mr Furbert said: “The modified cash, all-inclusive results from government operations, on the same basis that is shown in the budget book, was a deficit of $29.4 million.

“This compares to a deficit of $43.5 million that was originally budgeted. Therefore, the actual overall deficit was down by $14.1 million when compared to the original estimate.

“The decreased deficit is primarily a result of higher-than-budgeted revenues.

“This deficit reduction is part of the Government’s medium-term expenditure framework strategy to achieve a balanced budget.”

Mr Furbert said that the total revenue raised by the Contributory Fund for fiscal 2023-24 was approximately $1.18 billion, representing an increase of $45.6 million, or 4 per cent, from the previous year’s total revenue of $1.13 billion.

This exceeded original budget estimates by approximately $21.8 million, Mr Furbert said.

Current expenses for fiscal year 2023-24 were $1.28 billion compared with $1.36 billion for 2022-23.

Total current expenditure on a modified cash basis was $1.1 billion.

Interest-bearing debt net of the Sinking Fund increased by $129.6 million to $3.2 billion at March 31, 2024 from the previous year.

This was in part owing to the withdrawal of $79.4 million from the excess borrowing fund for payroll funding and interest payments.

Douglas De Couto, the shadow finance minister, sought clarity by asking under what authority the funds were able to be withdrawn.

David Burt, the Premier, interjected to explain: “The matters related to the excess borrowing fund able to cover deficits were passed by the One Bermuda Alliance when they were in office, and that is under the authority it was done.

“The fact is that sometimes the government cash budget runs low and it gets topped up again.”