PREMIER EBANKS: A TRANSFORMATIVE BUDGET

By Staff Writer

The 2025 Budget Statement being debated in Parliament this week was a choreographed tag-team demonstration by the National Coalition For Caymanians (NCFC) by Hon. Premier Andre Ebanks and Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Rolston Anglin.

Presented last Thursday, the budget event saw the Premier outline the Budget Policy Statement with the finance minister detailing the numbers crunching that will guide the government’s management of the national finances over the next two years (2026 and 2027).

Setting the policy tone for the budget and his coalition government, Premier Ebanks invoked the former US President Franklin Roosevelt.

“This is the NCFC Government’s first budget for the people of the Cayman Islands. Like Roosevelt’s New Deal approach, it is founded in the financial prudence and principled vision, primarily to benefit the Caymanian Community (at home and abroad). This is what our people have called for in their Government.”

BLUEPRINT FOR TRANSFORMATION

He described the NCFC government’s proposed $1.25 billion spending for each of 2026 and 2027 as “a transformative blueprint for a stronger, fairer Cayman, one that places our people first.”

However, while acknowledging Cayman’s strong economic indicators for the metrics from 2009 through 2025. Mr Ebanks said the governments during that period “neglected building wealth in our grassroots communities.”

In his words: “The uncomfortable reality is this: we have done relatively little to improve life for average Caymanians.”

According to the Premier, the challenges now confronting Cayman “are the result of years of complacency, deferral, and political convenience.”

“Big problems were kicked down the road,” he said, adding that “Today, they are joined by problems that once seemed small, but now loom large. The growth we celebrated between 2009 and 2025 has left a social deficit – in housing, access to healthcare, opportunity, infrastructure, and community cohesion.”

And again he lamented: “Too many Caymanians have been left behind.”

CONFRONTING THE CHALLENGES

The Premier listed a series of challenges he said his government inherited, which it is committed to correcting. Among these are: an affordability crisis with the cost of living beyond ordinary earnings, a housing shortage affecting lower to middle-income Caymanians (even those with more than one income stream), young Caymanians locked out of entry-level opportunities, and older Caymanians with woefully inadequate retirement income in their golden years.

In addition, Mr Ebanks also cited outdated immigration and public-service systems, neglected infrastructure and environmental vulnerabilities, and weakened social cohesion and community resilience.

While leaving it to the Finance Minister to delve into the nuts and bolts of the actual budget, the Premier did, however, highlight several areas which are priorities for the government, especially in education and health.

Education: “17% of our total 2026 budget - more than $250 million which includes capital allocations - is allocated to education. This investment targets workforce skills development, infrastructure improvements, teacher training, and programme enhancements that will deliver long-term economic growth and opportunity for Caymanians.”

Health, Environment and Sustainability: “13% of the Budget - almost $193 million, which includes capital allocations - will help ensure robust health services, public and environmental health programmes, and preservation of our natural environment for this and future generations. This allocation addresses immediate and longer-term health needs while building climate change resilience and protecting the natural beauty that defines our Islands.”

CHOICES

Doubling down on the measures his NCFC administration will be pursuing over the next two years, Premier Ebanks presented the stark choices: “We can continue the old ways: kicking problems down the road, favouring expedience over evidence, allowing gaps to widen between rich and poor, between Caymanians and opportunity. Or we can choose transformation. This budget is our choice. It says we will no longer defer the difficult decisions.”