The new year has just began and we are again reminded how easily international events can impact detrimentally upon our island home.

This time, it’s not that bad for Bermuda. Yet to our south, US actions in Venezuela have forced airline stoppages in the Caricom region. Caribbean residents and visitors alike have been left immobilised, trying to figure out when and how air routes will be restored. Only a few short months ago, it was US tariffs that threatened Bermuda’s shipping routes, those carrying much of our island’s food supply. Before that, we faced the Covid pandemic.

In an increasingly interdependent world, the concept of Fortress Bermuda is surely a thing of the past — if it ever existed. Fortunately, Bermuda flights remain largely unaffected by closed Caribbean airspace. Yet what should these turbulent events teach us about planning for the future?

Only days before the events in Venezuela, my parliamentary colleague, MP Doug De Couto, penned an article urging Bermudians to take advantage of certain financial opportunities now — while they still exist. Simply put, Bermuda must ensure our island is financially prepared before the next economic hurricane appears on our horizon.

MP De Couto, who is the Shadow Finance Minister, urged us to reduce Bermuda’s approximately $3 billion national debt. He is right. Events happen. Sooner or later, another economic storm will come. Will Bermudians be ready? We better be.

The wisdom of proverbs

As the government in waiting, the Opposition has pledged to use any surplus from the new Corporate Income Tax (CIT) to reduce our stifling national debt, to restore our island’s crumbling infrastructure, and to provide targeted support for Bermudians most in need.

One does not have to be an economist to see the wisdom of restoring good order to our shaky economic house. After more than two decades of PLP governments, our island’s debt has ballooned to more than $3 billion. It costs Bermudians $127 million each and every year just to make the interest payments to our foreign lenders. Common sense tells us this is unsustainable. And yet, at the same time, international business has presented us with an amazing opportunity — potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — to use surplus CIT to pay down (or perhaps pay off) our debt. We must seize this opportunity now.

Farmers have been long known to “make hay while the sun shines”. Blacksmiths wisely tell us: “Strike while the iron is hot”. Choose the commonsense proverb you prefer. The key point is this: we must take this opportunity while we still have it. Given global uncertainties, Bermuda may not have any CIT surplus for long.

The Premier’s modest proposal

When the Premier, David Burt, tells us that he plans to pay down some of our debt at some point in the future, we all should pay close attention. Let’s fact-check what he is actually saying.

Are the proverbial harvesters in the fields to gather up the wheat? Are the proverbial hammer and anvil ready so that we can strike hot iron now? Sadly they are not.

Remember our total debt is now staggeringly large, at about $3.2 billion. The reality is that $605 million of this debt is repayable to our lenders in 12 months — in January 2027. Yet the Premier’s debt proposal would not even pay off that $605 million that falls due.

Now is the time to speak up on this vital issue. It’s time to strike that anvil. Or, if you prefer the farming proverb, we had better make that hay before the rains come. Because come they will.

• Scott Pearman is the MP for Paget East (Constituency 22), the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and Shadow Minister for Legal Affairs. He can be reached at spearman@oba.bm