PM sees pick-up in SVG economic activity

This country has recorded some improvements to the fiscal operation so far this year.{{more}}

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said on Tuesday that as of the end of August, there were some improvements in this country’s fiscal operations, compared to the corresponding period in 2011.

According to the prime minister, there was a 5.9 per cent increase in the current revenue and a 5.3 per cent decline in the current expenditure.

He added that there were some other encouraging figures, including an increase of 3.7 per cent in revenue generated from taxes and international trade and a 7 per cent rise in the value of merchandise imports.

Taxes on domestic trade have increased by 18 per cent and revenue generated from the Value Added Tax (VAT) increased by 19.4 per cent.

“Which means there is a pick-up in domestic economic activity,” Gonsalves said, although saying that some of this was attributed to improved collections.

So the pick-up is not as significant as he had budgeted for, he explained.

Similarly, he said that although there had been some improvements this year, compared to that of last year, the fiscal performance of the country was still below what he had anticipated.

“So, we are doing better than last year, but not as well as I had anticipated that we will do.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” he continued.

Part of the problem, he explained, was what was happening in the United States and Europe and that affected us, Gonsalves said.

He further explained that some other economies had also started to show signs of slowing down, including Brazil and China. (DD)