2024 Budget out of touch with Vincentians – Dr Friday

Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Dr. Godwin Friday says that many of the projects spoken about in the 2024 Budget will never be implemented due to lack of funds.

Friday was responding as he opened debate on Tuesday, January 9, to presentation of the Appropriation Bill (Budget 2024) by Minister of Finance minister Camillo Gonsalves the previous day.

Going further, the Opposition Leader, speaking in the temporary Parliament building at Glen, also concluded that the Unity Labour Party (ULP) has been in power for so long that they have become isolated and are “in their own bubble.”

He said that as a result of being isolated, the government has presented a Budget that is out of touch with Vincentians and is also deceptive as the government wants the public to judge them by their intentions and not their accomplishments.

Friday said that when one walks through the  country, people will tell you that these are the most difficult times that the country has ever faced.

He said that this sentiment is shared not only by the unemployed or persons who are down on their luck, but by many persons, even business people.

He said that the Minister of Finance does not want to acknowledge the disconnect that the government has with the people, but the disconnect is evident as the Budget, which should offer hope is only talking about big projects.

The Opposition Leader said that while the photograph of the port is very impressive, and the port is needed, one must ask, “how can this impact people lives?” and how can people benefit from the project? He said the new port, like the international airport, may not show how big projects integrate into the development process and improve the lives of people.

He noted that the 2024 Budget may very well be the biggest ever but it does not matter as it fails to signal that the government understands peoples’ predicament.

Friday said that the over five hour long budget presentation sounded so good, and it lauded SVG as a place where everybody should be “…but we know that is far from the reality…”.

He noted that as the finance minister spoke, his thoughts were, “he can’t be talking about St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
“His sweet-sounding words and his hopeful rhetoric could not be describing the experience of people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He could not be talking about a country that has over 21% of persons unemployed, where 41% of the young people are unemployed where poverty is increasing, not decreasing.”

Friday noted also that the government says there is a shortage of around $215 million to complete all the projects listed and while the government says this money will be collected, that is not likely based on historical performance.

He said the estimates are prepared to add up/balance, not to implement projects, and more is said than is done year after year.

“They continually increase the Budget but fail to implement because they do not have the money to do it…it is an inevitable conclusion that they lack the money to implement the Budget,” Friday stressed while adding that the document is presented on a deliberately false statement that the government will collect the money needed.

He described the Finance Minister’s delivery as a “slick presentation”, intended to gloss over deep flaws in the Budget while adding that much of what was said had not been given much thought and described the budget as “dishonest” and “phony”.

The opposition leader referred to the Estimates which form the basis of the Budget as lacking key indicators in many areas, and this has many consequences for what the Budget promises.

The Opposition leader raised such specific issues as the Capital projects pegged to cost $570 million but for which the government plans to borrow $805 million.

“Why borrow money that you don’t need,” Friday questioned. He also pointed to the overall debt in excess of $2 billion that consumes 34 cents of every dollar to service and about which the Fiscal Responsibility Mechanism has cautioned.

The overdraft of $118.1 million, “that is more than double the approved level”, as well as the less than urgent move to address NIS reforms earlier, were also areas of criticism which Friday pointed out in his contribution to the debate.

“The government in fact put politics ahead of the interest of NIS pensioners and they failed to take timely and prudent action to fix the problem.”

He noted that 85% of pensioners have no income other than what they collect from the NIS. A slew of reforms of the NIS were announced in the 2024 budget that will begin to take effect from this year.