Dominica government has increased information dissemination: PM Skerrit

Dominica: Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that in the current term of the Dominica Labour Party Government, they have come up to give more and more information about the projects and initiatives. Announcing to form a chain of Cabinet press briefings, PM Skerrit added that every fortnight Cabinet would conduct a media conference to update the public on government proceedings, where additional ministers will come up to provide more information.

“Notwithstanding with the challenges of COVID-19, a number of things happened in Dominica. Which we believe are important for the people to know because some of them are not physical projects. But, there are a number of programmes that are being done which we need to update you as time goes by,” said PM Skerrit.

In the 2020-2021 budget address, PM gave a commitment to the nation that government is cognizant of the need to continue to assist the small and medium businesses in accessing the necessary finances for development growth and viability. He announced that the government would provide the aid bank an amount of $30 million over a 3 year period for lending to micro, small and medium-size businesses. During a press briefing, the prime minister said, “I am happy to report that we will be advancing the initiative and provide the aid bank $27 million in the month of May in one cheque, which will go towards the micro, small, medium businesses.”

The government of Dominica also has $36 million emergency shelters under construction. PM emphasized that country is operating within a very difficult global climate; every country has its own challenges, so Dominica is no different. Tourism, being among one of the significant sources of revenue, had been hit. Moreover, the country reported an incline in expenditure, especially in managing the COVID-19.

Describing the prudent and fiscal management of resources by the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) government, Prime Minister said when Hurricane Maria made landfall on our land, everything was devastated. We were only able to bounce back due to the management of the government. “When Maria hit us, we had over $300 million saved from Citizenship by Investment Programme, and we were able to use this to buy food, supplies, building material to get people out of the shelters as quickly as possible."