(Excerpts of Political Leader of the NDP, Honourable Dr Godwin Friday’s press statement)
The Budget is the most important exercise in our legislative calendar. I urge you to take the time to watch and listen. This is an election year. It’s all the more important and timely.
Let me give some perspectives. The ULP government has been in office for almost twenty-five years. They have failed to deliver on many of their past budget promises. This budget will be no different in my view. The situation in our country is bleak. The present government presides over a country where one in five persons are employed, where over 40% of the young people are unemployed, where wages in the St Vincent and the Grenadines are the lowest in the OECS and Caricom.
Our national debt now stands at $2.85 billion. The debt as a percentage of the GDP is 93.6%. We call it the debt to GDP Ratio. That is what is stated in the 2025 Estimates. Serving the debt is 36% of current revenue, thirty-six cents out of every dollar that the government collects, goes to servicing the debt. This means money is being spent to cover debt rather than to create new opportunities.
St Vincent and the Grenadines has the seventh highest murder rate in the world. Last year, we recorded 54 homicides and the year before that was a record year. The ULP has created these problems and they have proven over the past five years that they cannot fix the mess that they have created. With numerous broken promises from both the 2020 manifesto which they put forward a tissue of lies and the 2024 budget, they have demonstrated that they are out of touch. More importantly they have taken the people of this country for granted because they make promises that they don’t fulfil and worse than that they do not intend to fulfil them.
In the budget coming up, they will continue to talk big and deliver little. In fact, they have already started to boast, an official in the Ministry of Finance said that this is the biggest budget ever. Everything is bigger under the ULP, but is it better?
I want our people to remember that this is an election year. The government will want our people to forget four years of neglect and broken promises. Let me give you some examples of the broken promises. These are from last year’s budget. We were told in the 2024 budget that they would transform education, tourism, fisheries and healthcare.
The 2024 budget says a lot but failed to deliver. Here are some: North Windward, they promised to start rehabilitation of the Owia Fisheries Complex. This hasn’t been done. In east St George, the finance minister said that he would develop East St George into a business hub and he has not done so.
Regarding education, the Thomas Saunders Secondary will commence this year, it hasn’t started. The construction of the Kingstown Anglican School will commence this year, it hasn’t started. The construction of the Sandy Bay Secondary School, funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Brighton Secondary School, financed by the Saudi Fund for Development, they have not started.
Also, upgrade of the National Public Library, nothing has started. The construction of cultural, education and production hubs in Petit Bordel and Troumaca nothing has started. Establish safe and sanitary facility for the fishers operating out of Lowman’s Bay and Shipping Bay, not started. The solidarity Fishing Fleet project, they will spend $4 million and purchase four tuna boats at the first instance and to train fishers in the operation of those vessels, nothing was done,
Tourism – begin construction on the Marriott Resort (Mt Wynne), not started. Development of 16 acres of land along the coast of Brighton into a recreational park and bird-watching retreat, not done. Begin construction of a SMART health clinic in Belair, not started. They failed to deliver the 2024 promises, Vincentians must not believe them. In this election year, they would promise the world and failed to deliver.
Budget 2025
We need a budget of honesty. If you don’t have the money, don’t make promises that can’t be delivered. We need to see proposal that provide real help for people who have been neglected by the government and are suffering. We need to see a budget that is a driver for change to address the cost-of- living-crisis. We need a budget that is targeted, to create jobs and grow the economy, tackles crime and improve the health care system.
We propose: reduce VAT from 16% to 13%, create a VAT free shopping days at key points in the year (August and December) to support families, create an annual bonus for all public sector workers and create a bonus payment for those on public assistance and review the import duties on motor vehicles.
We need to create a National Unemployment Action Plan to reduce unemployment as a matter of urgency: invest in a national youth program that supports young people who are unemployed, create a national innovation hub to support young artists who can help develop new business.
Create a national crime plan to address the rising rate of crime across the country; this should encompass a new and integrated national policing plan to target key areas of violence, increased international cooperation and new infrastructure needed to tackle crime. This is a national priority and needs a fully funded plan that brings together the police, churches and other social actors.
Deliver infrastructure improvements across the country: there should be dedicated infrastructure plans for every constituency. This should include a national roads programme, deliver improved hardcourts in every constituency. I also would like to see a National Health Insurance plan. Next week, I urge our people to listen.