On Tuesday 29th January, Parliament approved the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for 2019 totaling EC$1,067,343,283, in advance of the presentation of the Budget on Monday 4th January.
Following the presentation of the Estimates by the Minister of Finance, Hon. Camillo Gonsalves, the Leader of the Opposition Dr. Honorable Godwin Friday, led the response by the Opposition.
Speaking for approximately one hour (exceeding the usual 45 minutes allotted by the Standing Orders), Dr. Friday pointed to many deficiencies in the Estimates, including the ballooning “Other Capital Receipts” category of revenue (stated at over $198 million) which inflated the budget but will never be collected and spent.
He declared that such unrealistic and dishonest revenue projections make the Estimates exercise a mirage, far divorced from reality.
Member for West Kingstown, the Honourable Daniel Cummings also responded. Among other things, he spoke about the failure to address the dire health care situation in the country and the poor planning and execution of river defenses in Kingstown.
He was followed by Member for Southern Grenadines, the Hon. Terrance Ollivierre, who pointed to the continued neglect of public infrastructure, health services and education in his constituency.
It was obvious that after presenting their billion-dollar Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, those on the government side, including Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, did not seem very committed to their revenue and expenditure projections, as only Agriculture Minister, the Hon. Saboto Caesar and Health Minister the Hon. Luke Browne spoke in support of them.
Why would a government that is so very media hungry bring their big Estimates to the House and most of the Ministers fail to speak in support of it? Were they uncomfortable that the figures were highly unrealistic and sensed that the Vincentian people would realize that they were being misled again by the ULP administration?
Given the 1% salary increase forced upon public servants and teachers by the government and the resounding rejection of it by the teachers and public servants, it is evident that Ralph Gonsalves and the ULP government are out of touch with reality in SVG and cannot get it right.
The NDP is calling on Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves to reconsider the budgetary farce and to present a realistic and honest budget to the Vincentian people.
