Pleading poverty, Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul has turned down an invitation for Bermuda to host next year's Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting.

"It is an expensive proposition,'' said Dr. Saul, who returned on the weekend from this year's meeting of 51 Commonwealth finance ministers in Malta. "I told them no.'' Due to uncertainties over the cost of taking over the Airport from the US Navy, Dr. Saul said he was telling all Government departments to hold non-salary expenditures next year to the same level as this year.

In Malta, "I told the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Chancellor of the Exchequer that because I was clamping down on Government departments, I did not feel it was either fair or reasonable for the taxpayers of the Island to put out a quarter of a million dollars to host the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting.'' Instead, the meeting will be held in Jamaica, he said.

Dr. Saul, who said he consulted with Cabinet colleagues before making his decision, told the group Bermuda would consider hosting the meeting in 1996.

Bermuda last hosted the Commonwealth Finance Ministers in 1980, when Dr. Saul organised the meeting as Financial Secretary. That made it tougher to turn down next year's meeting, he said. "Everyone still remembers (1980), because it went off like a Swiss watch.'' The host country has been expected to provide accommodation and meals for all the delegates -- about 350 people, Dr. Saul said. After estimating how much the high-level visitors were likely to spend in Bermuda, as well as the public relations value of holding the meeting, "I still felt as a matter of principle we had to say no.'' With the US Navy quitting Bermuda next September 1, Government faces substantial and largely unknown costs, mainly associated with running the Airport.

"I've got to allow for the imponderables at the Base,'' Dr. Saul said.

Commonwealth Finance Ministers started meeting 27 years ago just prior to the annual World Bank meeting, which is being held this week in Madrid.

Money laundering and banking supervision were among the issues discussed at the meeting last week, Dr. Saul said.

On money laundering, "All of us have agreed we are going to bring in legislation to make it that much more difficult,'' he said. The Finance Ministers also agreed to a greater sharing of banking and monetary authority information, he said.

Changes would likely be introduced to the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act.