Government is keeping bad news under wraps instead of exposing it to the 'sunshine of public scrutiny', Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons said yesterday.

Dr. Gibbons pointed to Government's failure to release several reports including those covering the economy, asbestos at Southside, the Bermuda Regiment and the Civil Service.

He also noted that there had been a lack of visitor statistics coming from Government and said the last visitor profile compilation made public was from June, 2001.

"As numbers decline, there seems to be a longer lag in reporting. Quite frankly it looks like Government is holding off on reporting bad news. Over the last couple of years there has been less and less reporting," Dr. Gibbons said.

Dr. Gibbons said he was concerned over the delay in releasing the annual report on the Island's international business sector from economist Dr. Brian Archer.

Dr. Gibbons claimed the last Archer report released dates from 1999 and said he would have expected the 2000 report to have been released last fall. He said the information in the report is key as it tracks, from year to year, the contribution of international business to the Island's economy.

With the Budget for the coming fiscal year due to be released in coming weeks Dr. Gibbons said: "This close to the Budget and in the current economic conditions it is disgraceful that this information has not been released."

Finance Minister Eugene Cox is off the Island but acting Minister Alex Scott noted Government and the BMAroutinely released economic indicators.

He added:"Government only recently received the Archer Report on international business for the year 2000 and proposes to release it in due course.

"While the report is valuable for its analysis of the international business sector, it is historical in nature and does not address the most recent developments in this important sector of Bermuda's economy."

Mr. Scott pointed out that Government produced an economic review as background to the annual Budget.

Dr. Gibbons said Government's response was "not good enough.

"Normally this would be received in the fall; historically this has been released on a much more timely basis."

He said the economic review is valuable but as it came from Government, it was edited by Government.

"The Archer report is independent. It was set up to be unbiased, that is one of the values of the report. And many want to see the source of information; the original report.

" I am not saying the economic review is not useful, but this Government promised the 'sunshine of public scrutiny' and transparency and we have seen the opposite," Dr. Gibbons said.

"In this economic climate, people are looking for economic indicators and the information must be released in a timely fashion," he said.

Although the information is historical, Dr. Gibbons said it enables one to see trends over time.

Dr. Gibbons also pointed to other information held by Government that has not been forthcoming including the Southside Asbestos Review, the 2000 Census, the Bermuda Regiment Review, the Civil Service Report, the Tax Review, the Employment Review and the Annex to the OECD report in which Government reportedly committed Bermuda to fulfilling certain requirements in regards to harmful tax issues.

Dr. Gibbons said: "The Annex bound Bermuda to a certain sequence of events, and it would be nice to know what that is."