Bowen Says National Debt Higher Now Than in 2014, Accuses Government of Misleading Public
Opposition MP Sherfield Bowen on Friday challenged the government’s claims of improved debt management, arguing that Antigua and Barbuda’s national debt is higher today than it was in 2014, despite repeated assertions that the debt burden has fallen.
Speaking during the 2026 Budget Debate, Bowen said the government focuses on debt as a percentage of GDP while avoiding the actual dollar value of the country’s liabilities. He described that approach as misleading and said it obscures the true scale of borrowing over the past decade.
Bowen cited the 2014 Director of Audit’s Report, which placed the national debt at EC$2.6 billion when the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party took office. He said the current budget shows the national debt at approximately EC$4 billion, representing a significant increase rather than a reduction.
“So you move from $2.6 billion to $4 billion and say that’s a reduction in debt,” Bowen told Parliament. “That’s not a go down. That’s a go up.”
The opposition MP said government officials regularly highlight that debt has fallen from over 100 percent of GDP to about 61 percent, but he argued that percentage-based comparisons can shrink even as borrowing increases, particularly when economic output grows.
“They never say what was the debt in 2014 and what it is today,” Bowen said, adding that presenting the figures only as a ratio to GDP “fools the people.”
To illustrate his point, Bowen broke the figures down on a per-capita basis. He said the national debt in 2014 amounted to roughly EC$24,000 per person, compared with about EC$50,000 per person under the current budget.
Bowen said the increase reflects years of accumulated deficits and borrowing, contradicting claims that public finances have improved. “It is not getting better,” he said. “It is getting worse.”
His remarks formed part of a broader critique of the government’s budget presentation, which he accused of masking structural weaknesses behind favourable headline figures.
