PM Douglas says 2013 Budget will show surplus

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, APRIL 2ND 2013 (CUOPM) – Next Tuesday’s Budget for the financial year 2013, is expected to show a surplus in the country’s overall balance, a surplus in the country’s current account and a surplus in the country’s primary balance.

In what has been seen as a precursor to the Budget Session, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said his Budget Presentation in the National Assembly “will show, in other words, a Government well-positioned to continue being a major player in our country’s economic growth. And own house being in order, of course, cannot help but produce expanded investor confidence – both locally as well as domestically – as has been demonstrated by the range of local and foreign investments that are now very much underway.”

Speaking during his weekly radio programme “Ask the Prime Minister,” Prime Minister Douglas noted that the consultation on the Budget was completed in late 2012 and next week’s Budget Address will reflect “the seriousness with which this Government has taken its fiscal and managerial responsibilities, the extraordinary expertise and first-rate planning that the Government has clearly put into this effort and the results, the extraordinary results and the real and quantifiable benefits that this Government is now in a position to deliver to the people, as a result.”

“Let me first say that with the first shudders of the world economic crisis in 2008, and with the reality of all kinds of nations being plunged into severe economic distress, my Government quickly realized that our number one obligation had to be the fierce protection of these two islands. And we realise that reducing the country’s debt, and achieving fiscal stabilisation, would be absolutely essential,” Dr. Douglas said.

Prime Minister Douglas noted that his governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Government long ago laid the groundwork for the upturn that has begun and which will continue throughout 2013.

Pointing out that his government wants the private sector to be a major contributor to the country’s economic growth as well, Prime Minister Douglas said his Budget Presentation next week will reflect a reduction in the corporate tax rate in order to free up additional corporate dollars to be used for additional investments with their associated employment and other benefits.

“I must point out that our country’s current account surplus, the overall balance surplus, and the primary balance surplus I referred to earlier will all be realized even after the reduction in corporate taxes and these surpluses will continue in 2014, even after the full effect of this reduction has been felt,” said Dr. Douglas.