Key highlights of Dominica’s Budget 2019-2020 claimed to be the biggest till now

Dominica’s budget for the year 2019-2020 was presented on Sunday by the Prime Minister and Finance Minister Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit. Claimed to be the biggest budget of the island, the budget which is more than one billion dollars mainly focuses on education, health, and infrastructural development.

The largest allocation of the budget is under the Ministry of Finance in the sum of $244.6 million and the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development will receive the second-highest allocation of $77.5 million whereas the Ministry of Health and Social Services has been allocated $72.4 million or 11.8 percent of the total recurrent budget. The sum of $36.5 million represents retiring benefits paid to former public officers as well as the payment of compassionate allowance and non-contributory pensions to citizens over the age of seventy.

The government continues to recognize the importance of education to the development of our people and nation. An additional $2.0 million is allocated to the Dominica State College bringing the total subvention to $6.2 million. This increase is in keeping with the recent policy decision to eliminate tuition fees at the Dominica State College and other new programs to be implemented.

To expand the health services in the country, a sum to construct Marigot Hospital is also allocated in the budget 2019-2020. PM said, “the source of financing and process for eventual drawdown had become too protracted so we have therefore decided to fund its construction utilizing our resources, raised from the Citizenship By Investment Programme. We now have in our possession the architectural drawings which will be shared with stakeholders very soon and we expect that work will start this year.”

In his address, while presenting the budget in Dominican parliament, Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit, said that to improve the health reforms in the country the government is conducting training programs for medical personnel at all layers. This will improve preventative health care, at the primary health care level.

While speaking up of health, Prime Minister also said that government is taking help of Cuba and China to improve the quality of health services on the island. He said as per now, four Chinese Medical Specialists are dealing with Oncology, Ophthalmology, Cardiology, and Urology.

PM also said that arrangements are being made to start Dominica University School of Medicine with an agreement with Dominica University of Medical Sciences (DUSM) to allow the university to function and The DUSM also proposes the establishment of a School of Nursing and a School of Pharmacy.

Regarding education facilities in the country, Skerrit said, “Education plays a significant role in empowering a Nation and government is providing scholarships to efficient students and around and an amount of twenty-three million dollars were spent in the financial year of 2018-2019.

In an addition to that, he also said that Government has taken a decision to introduce a national skill certification program under the aegis of Dominica State College and this program will be conducted mainly in the evenings to ensure the fullest participation.

In an addition to that PM claimed that his government has provided 500 new houses to people along with that an amount of approximately eighty-six million dollars ($86.0 million) was spent, in assisting residents to repair, renovate and build new homes.

In his budget speech, while applauding Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBIP), PM said, “ the first of the CBIP projects, Jungle Bay Resort, is now open to guests and employing sixty-two (62) full-time staff. The Cabrits Resort and Spa, a Kempinski branded Hotel, is accepting reservations for October 2019 and they have already started employing full-time staff.”

PM claimed that the government has negotiated a financial package of $67.9 million with the World Bank specifically for investments in agriculture and Fisher-folk will be assisted in restoring their fishing capacity through the provision of support to acquire new boats, repair damaged ones and assisting in the recovery of boat-building facilities.

Skerrit said support will be provided for the recovery and increase in the production capacity of small and medium-sized crop farmers growing dasheen, tannia, yam, sweet potato, banana and vegetables as well as commercially oriented farmers inserted into value chains generally producing perennial crops and fruits such as coconuts, cocoa, citrus, ginger, avocado and coffee.

The new budget also focuses on encouraging agribusiness and training to farmers about new farming techniques. Skerrit said the main focus behind doing this is to assist the country to boost its regional and international agricultural market share.

Prime Minister also said that the concept design of the geothermal project has been completed and the ‘no objection’ of the World Bank was received on July 9, 2019. The Dominica Geothermal Development Company (DGDC) will soon release the Bid documents for the construction of the geothermal plant.