National budget is our scorecard of success, says St Kitts and Nevis PM

St Kitts and Nevis: The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has conferred a tax-free, surplus budget, a year next year beginning from 2016. Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris said that this is vital as the budget can be observed as a scorecard on the Federation’s Economic health.

“We can take enormous pride that this small nation has been the best maintained small-island state,” Dr Harris said, on Tuesday’s (October 21, 2020) edition of the Leadership Matters.

He aimed at three critical signs that are contemplative of the positive performance in the nation and its capacity to service its indebtedness. Those are the Recurrent Account, the Overall Account, and the Primary Account. All three accounts reported excesses. These signs are usually examined closely by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Caribbean Development Bank.

“We have performed an exceptional job,” the prime minister stated. “When COVID-19 got our way in late March of this year, St. Kitts and Nevis had the most effective resources of any member nation of the region,” the prime minister asserted.

He called the robust stimulus-response that combined relief payments of up to $1,000 from Social Security in April, May, June, and September, cuts in tax rates, duty waivers on chosen items, moratoriums on some mortgage repayments, and waivers in many bill fees including water and power.

“This is an exceptional achievement for the smallest independent state within the region. Your Team Unity government addressed that. We are there with you. We are in the alleyways; we are in the byways. We are hearing attentively, not only listening, we are responding to the known needs of the people,” Dr Harris asserted.

Prime Minister Harris remarked that the Government continues concentrated on restoring the economy to the thriving levels of pre-COVID-19.