Over the last two weeks, stories pertaining to the Nutmeg and Cocoa Industry Bill, a government bill to MERGE the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association and the Grenada Cocoa Association, have featured prominently in the media. Discussion on the merger is merely a distraction from the examination of the real intent of the proposed bill – liberalisation of the cocoa and nutmeg sectors.
One the eve of Carnival – Friday, August 9th – the honorable House of Representatives met to “deliberate” on a suite of bills. Among them were the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Bill, 2019 and two money bills: – a Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2019 for an amount of $9,967,790 for the period August 1st to December 31st, 2019. ………; a Budget Loan Authorization Bill, 2019 to authorize the Minister to borrow an amount not exceeding EC$118.8 M, from various sources.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank – the regulatory authority of licensed banks in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union – is inviting comments on a June 2018 Consultative Paper on the Consolidation of National Banks in the Eastern Caribbean which may be accessed at the central bank’s website. The paper advises that the Monetary Council of the ECCU, which is made up of the Ministers of Finance of member countries, at its February 2018 meeting approved a statement of intent and principles of bank consolidation for the ECCU national banking sector.
I am listening with keen interest to the utterings of two political leaders on the issue of the size of the
public debt: – the incumbent Prime Minister and Minister of the Finance, self-styled “Papa”, aka “the Great Provider of Food”; The Political Leader of the main opposition party – a former Minister of Finance in the last administration, aspirant to the office of Prime Minister and maybe Minister of Finance. I will refer to him as The Aspirant. While some may be temporarily dazzled by the chimera of brilliance of both leaders, others among us are 2018, February 18th: simply baffled.
Under the three-year Structural Adjustment Programme (June 2014 – June 2017), the Government of Grenada, with the support of the IMF, negotiated debt restructuring arrangements with a number of its creditors – domestic creditors, international bond holders and holders of commercial debt, Paris Club official bilateral and non-Paris Club bilateral creditors and Ex-Im Bank, Taiwan – to obtain some form of debt relief, a reduction in total debt stock and/or cash flow relief.
Part 2 of Grenada’s Economy in 2017 takes a look at fiscal performance over the period 2013 – 2017.
The fiscal account reflects the situation re the country’s revenue and expenditure – recurrent and capital – loans and debt, servicing, both interest and principal repayments.
This article reflects an interested citizen’s attempt to understand what happened in the economy in 2017 based on the information provided in the 2018 Budget Statement and Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure. Part 1 looks at the following: – GDP Growth; Construction; Private Education, Tourism and Agriculture Sectors; Unemployment and External Account.
Part 3 of Spotlight on the Public Debt takes a look at the following:- total external debt and external debt service in comparison with total public debt and total debt service; external creditors; commercial bonds – the amounts making up the commercial bonds and the evolution of these debts vis-a-vis restructuring; selected external creditors
