By Admin. Updated 3:08 p.m., Tuesday, January 9, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Leader of the Opposition – Dr. Godwin Friday said that the 2024 budget presented by Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves is “dishonest” and “disconnected from reality”.
Minister Gonsalves presented a 1.6 billion dollar budget on January 8, 2024, which gives the blueprint for the management of the country’s affairs for the 2024 fiscal year.
The budget, themed: Accelerating Sustainable Development, Propelling Inclusive Growth and Advancing People-Centered Reforms to Build a More Resilient Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,” is an 11.8 percent hike over the 2023 budget.
The budget outlines projected funded for capital projects in the tune of 571 million dollars, and also projects a current account deficit of 25 million dollars.
In his response this morning (January 9) to the finance minister’s January 8 budget speech, the opposition leader said the finance minister’s account “was disconnected from the reality of people’s lives”.
“There is a disconnect between what the minister presents and believes and what the other people in the country see,” Dr. Friday said.
While questioning what he described as the government’s focus on “big projects” and their impact on people’s lives, the opposition leader said:
“What matters is that the budget as a serious document ought to signal to the people of this country that we understand our predicament, we know what you are feeling. Never-mind in the rarified atmosphere here in the Parliament and in the offices of the ministers and so forth, they may not be able to appreciate it in a direct way, but they must have information as to what’s happening on the ground and then send a signal to people in this country that relief in on the way”.
“That is a missed opportunity in this budget that was presented yesterday,” Dr. Friday said.
The opposition leader took issue with a number of items in the budget including the excess capital receipts which he says the government has not demonstrated it can raise over the years and which he claims is an accounting trick to make the budget appear balanced.
He said the budget “is a dishonest budget”. “It is phony,” he added.
“The 245 million dollars in excess capital receipts are merely an accounting trick to enable the minister to cover up the 235.1 million dollars in the overall deficit. So, you can present the budget as though it’s balanced, even though the money will not be collected,” he said.
He also took issue with the National debt of the country which totals 2.44 billion dollars, specifically what he said were increases in the interest and loan charges associated with the debt.
“The overall debt of the country is 2.44 billion dollars. This is in the Estimates at page 848. What is alarming and what is concerning Madame Speaker is that the payment of interests and loan charges are increasing. The minister could probably explain why that is the case, but between 2023 where you paid 80.2 million dollars in interests and fees and charges, in 2024, that goes up to 107 million dollars. That is an increase of 26.9 million dollars, or over 33 percent in one year,” he said.
“That is a tremendous cost that is imposed on the treasury. It creates a serious problem for us keeping debt servicing costs high and the debt burden heavy,” he said.
Debt servicing now takes 34 cents out of every dollar, he said, adding that “I think when I came to this Parliament it was around 24 cents out of every dollar of current revenue…and we are running a current account deficit”.
The finance minister is expected to respond to the opposition leader’s concerns during the wind up of the budget debate expected in a few days.
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