Gonsalves fooling people – Eustace

Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace said he believes that Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is misleading the public with his review of the economy’s performance.{{more}}

Speaking yesterday on the “New Times” programme on NICE Radio, Eustace responded to a newspaper article on Friday, in which the prime minister said there was a pick-up in the economy.

The prime minister said there was a 5.9 per cent increase in the current revenue and a 5.3 per cent decline in the current expenditure.

But Eustace said while that sounds good, if the government was not paying some of the bills owed, then expenditure would decrease.

“That doesn’t tell me a great deal. I want to know what happen to the payables — those things you owing — have those things decreased?” the leader of the opposition said.

“Its very easy to write these figures and fool the public,” Eustace continued.

He contended that the prime minister could say that the expenditure was down, but that he would still need to pay at some point.

“It’s just not enough to say decline in expenditure. I want to know what is the decline.”

He said had the government paid the three per cent salary increase owed to public servants since January 2011, then the prime minister could not have made such an announcement.

“So, don’t bother with those figures … Those figures have to be interpreted and that is what you don’t get,” Eustace said.

He said that the government was putting off its payment to the public servants and the private sector.

“You don’t run a country like that. You come out and say that you have a problem … but he is not saying that because that is a reflection of the government.”

He said that the Vincentian economy had not grown in four years and that it was the prime minister’s fault.

The International Monetary Fund has reported four years of economic decline in St Vincent and the Grenadines but the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank said the economy grew last year, the first time in four years.

“He refused to pay who he should have, so don’t tell me expenditure gone down,” Eustace said. (DD)