Today, the
NDP has outlined its priorities for the 2024 national budget. We urge the government to include them in the Budget to be presented in January. As part of this, the NDP proposals include:
Reduce the rate of VAT from 16% to 13% to provide relief from high cost of living.
Create a pathway to put the NIS on a sustainable footing.
Cut the interest rate on student loans to 4.5%
Encourage projects to provide significant employment now that sandals and other hotel projects are coming into operation.
Pay urgent attention TVET education and create a national skills agency with representatives from government, business, and unions to fill jobs and meet the needs of the economy.
Speaking today, NDP President the Honourable Dr Godwin Friday said “At the recent Hope for Youth Rally, we set out the specifics of our plan to build a brighter SVG. We always put the country first and that is why we are calling on the government not to delay further but to implement these measures now”.
“We want to see focus on job creation, skills development and growing our economy to ensure we give everyone the opportunity to build a better life in SVG. While there will be other priorities over the course of the budget if the government is serious about tackling the unemployment rate and cost of living then these proposals can make real and clear progress”.
East Kingstown MP Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble said: “This coming budget represents an opportunity for the government to take the best decisions in the long-term interest of our country. They need to show more urgency. Having said before that they could not cut the student loan interest rate, they now say they will do it. But if they had done it when the NDP proposed it in 2020, the average student would have saved thousands of dollars in loan payments by now. The government should look at our budget proposals and incorporate them into the upcoming national budget. They should put aside partisanship and division and focus on what’s best for the country”