HELLO GRENADA

Recently, St Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, in a speech at the Cave Hill Campus at UWI bluntly admitted that the region is facing a grave crisis which we must address. He said “The tragedy of these times is that we are in the throes of a major crisis like the Caribbean has never ever experienced before, but we are refusing to face the reality that confronts us and all of us are engaged in one form or another of self denial”. Grenada sits on top of the table in the OECS as it relates to Debt to GDP ratio. St. Kitts and Antigua are next in line. The government of Grenada informed the international community that it cannot meet its debt commitments under present arrangements. The country therefore entered into default mode and has experienced, since then, a precipitous drop in its credit ratings. The government then announced that it will implement a “Home Grown” structural adjustment programme.  The country’s Prime Minister is now challenged to lead the country during wha

The Middle Class under attact The country’s Prime Minister announced in a national address recently that the income tax threshold will be lowered from $60,000 to $36,000 per annum come January 2014. This policy reversal comes in the wake of a proposed Structural Adjustment Programme which the government will implement for the next three years. Dr.Mitchell stated that the existing tax regime is the most liberal in the Caribbean if not the world. He went on to say that it needs to be rolled back if we want the international community to provide assistance for the Structural Adjustment Programme. The implications of this measure has not yet been internalized by many as the government is yet to  define what this programme is intended to achieve. The Committee of Social Partners has held a series of public discussions in an attempt to promote public education on this thorny issue. However, one senses an underlying state of despair as the soon to be affected wage earners do the math.

Grenada’s Home Grown Structural Adjustment: Fiction or Troubled Reality Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell delivered his much anticipated National Address on October 30th 2013. The address started off with self characterizing reference as the “Chief Public Servant” a term never before used in his political career. One wonders if that was a form of psychological preparation in anticipation of the pay hike for ministers based on public sector wage settlement In my previous commentary prior to the address, reference was made to the Prime Minister’s strategy of “Drip Disclosure”. The speech proved beyond reasonable doubt that the assessment is and was correct. The main objective of the address was to announce a major policy reversal of reduction in the Income Tax Threshold. Undoubtedly, this would have been a painful moment for Dr. Mitchell as the promise to raise the threshold, if elected, in 1995 was pivotal to his electoral victory. The rest of the speech was pretty mundane. Obser