Having inherited a sugar industry shackled on a “death bed” by $85 billion in debt, a bailout became necessary to keep sugar workers employed despite the strain on other sectors and the treasury, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said yesterday, as he rubbished claims by the opposition PPP/C that government was ‘killing sugar.’
Nagamootoo, who was the penultimate speaker in the budget debate, went all out to justify government’s decision to give the industry bailouts totalling $23 billion and its intention to hand over a further $9 billion next year.
