Losses revealed in the latest financial statements for The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas came as no surprise to parliamentarians when the report was tabled Wednesday, but the Minister responsible for broadcasting Obie Wilchcombe vowed to wipe out the BCB’s deficit in two years.
Minister Wilchcombe said he also wanted to wean the corporation from government subsidy.
“I want to ensure that the corporation can carry its own,” he said in an interview with the Bahama Journal. “The financial situation is getting better.”
The government has set aside $5 million to help the corporation, but it is not nearly enough to wipe out the existing deficit which the Minister said stands at around $14 million.
He said the goal is to eliminate the deficit in two years.
“The corporation has an inventory of around $45 million, but we’ve been earning less than $6 million over the last several years,” Minister Wilchcombe said. “We have got to be able to raise the revenue earnings significantly. I think we can do that.”
The most recent financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2000 show that the corporation was carrying accumulated losses of $21.1 million – up from $20 million recorded the year before.
The government provided funding to the corporation in the amount of $6,000 in the fiscal year 1999-2000 and $7.5 million the year before.
During those years the BCB incurred operating losses of $7.1 million and $8.3 million respectively and such losses are being forecasted to continue for the foreseeable future, the report said.
In 2000, accounts receivable totalled more than $2 million, but Minister Wilchcombe said in recent times, management at the corporation has been working aggressively to reverse this trend.
“One of the things that I applaud the corporation for is the fact that it is running much more professionally,” he said. “It is now taking on a business culture because the corporation has insisted on that being the way forward.
“Your seeing some changes, you’re seeing some good changes that I think would be to the benefit of the corporation and certainly the country.”
Minister Wilchcombe added that the corporation has been doing some hiring lately, bringing on staff to improve news production, and ensure the overall improvement of operations at ZNS.
The corporation has also been cutting back significantly, he said, as it moves to reverse negative financial trends and collect outstanding debt.
“What we’re working on now is new revenue streams,” Minister Wilchcombe said, adding that the corporation will soon be making a formal announcement to that effect.
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
