Budget 2018 passed in St Kitts and Nevis parliament

The St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly has passed the 2018 Appropriation Bill following four days of debates.

Prime Minister Timothy Harris, who is also the minister of finance, said all indicators point to strong and robust economy in St. Kitts and Nevis.

“Three consecutive years of tax free budgets, three consecutive years of surplus budgets, three consecutive years of positive growth in the economy [and] two years in a row of [paying] a double salary.”

The opposition leader said that "there was no serious attempt to present realistic and true figures" to the parliament.

But Harris said that businesses have had their “best year” in the last 12 months and that his budget was backed by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Some of the capital projects planned for 2018 are the second cruise pier, rehabilitation of the Old Road Fisheries Complex and the upgrade of the Island Main Road.

'Tampering' and out of time

The total amount of the 2018 budget was EC$706,129,036 million.

In his response, leader of the opposition Denzil Douglas – prime minister of the federation from 1995 until 2015 – described it as a tampered document, riddled with discrepancies and designed to mislead.

“It is an important policy document that gives a sensible and realistic view of the year ahead and establishes policies aimed at carrying our country forward. If the numbers are wrong, then the policies based on those numbers would also be wrong,” he said.

“Throughout the estimates, we find evidence that the budget process is not being taken seriously and that the numbers are being pulled out of a hat."

The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party leader referred to last year's estimates as an example of tampering.

[caption id="attachment_8901" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Denzil Douglas.[/caption]

"How can the budget be considered an important planning and policy-making tool with such huge discrepancies?" Douglas asked.

"How do we know that 2018 Budget is not similarly misstated? I contend that the budget process lacks credibility and bears no relation to the realities that we face as a nation.”

The prime minister hit back, labelling Douglas’ comments as a “disingenuous response to the budget”.

Earlier a row had broken out during the budget proceedings over the government’s refusal to allow the leader of the opposition additional time to respond – despite numerous interruptions by those on the government benches.

Denzil Douglas requested more time but Prime Minister Harris instead called for a vote on the matter – which the speaker agreed to.

Mark Brantley, foreign affairs minister, defended the decision.

“If it was that the minister of finance had spoken for three or four hours, the first person to respond on the opposition benches would have had that equal time but having had that equal time there is no provision that would allow him or her to seek additional time in the way in which it was attempted earlier,” he said.

Two other opposition politicians – MP Konris Maynard and Senator Nigel Carty – were also refused additional time.