While the performance of some Caribbean economies has returned to the levels they were before the 2008 financial crisis, others have not and will take some time to do so.
Chair of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Authority, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves made the point as last Friday’s meeting of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Authority got underway in Buccament Bay.
He said that in the case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, between 2008 and 2010, there was aggregate negative economic growth of 4.8 per cent
In 2011, there was positive growth of 0.3 per cent, in 2012 1.5 per cent and in 2013, the estimate is 3.1 per cent.
“So, if you add those, you will see we are at an aggregate of 4.9 [per cent], which is just about the level where we were in the pre-crisis period,” said Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Finance.
“So, we are coming out as a whole, regionally. We are not all coming out at the same pace,” he said, adding that that is to be expected and some economies tend to accelerate more than others.
“I know it is a favourite pastime of those who want to create mischief and misinformation rather than serious analysis that If you see in one year, Grenada goes up a little more than St. Vincent or St. Vincent goes up a little more than Dominica, or Antigua, for it to be said, ‘Ah, you see! Grenada has gone up a little more than you. They are just down the road. What is Keith Mitchell doing [that] you [are] not doing?’” Gonsalves said.
“That is a kind of childishness, a sort of puerile analysis which we as serious people must ignore and look at underlying trends, where we are and where we are going and what got us to where are. What are the extant conditions with all the limitations and how are we seeking to take care an channel the possibilities. Then we are talking like serious, mature people,” Gonsalves said.
We doing better than our neighbors. Its you that started the childishness. Your an economic dunce, just face the fact. (Ring The Bell).
Sorry buy I do not believe the figures for SVG.
There are a record number of closed business’s. The banks are all making loss’s. People are actually having to steal to eat. Children cannot afford school books. The hospital has no drugs, dressings, and sometime no toilet paper or bed linen.
Please PM Gonsalves tell us which part of Maurice Bishops work you want to finish, people will always think the worst if you fail to fully explain what that means.
I don’t trust any government numbers — economic or otherwise — coming from any of these countries. This is not just a question of honesty but reflects the competence and diligence the personnel collecting the numbers.
Greece cooked the books, deliberately and incompetently, for years until their own goose got cooked.
We all know that our list of eligible voters is grossly inflated. I also suspect that our census numbers grossly underestimate the size of our population. I also believe that the errors in both lists has more to do with the indifference and incompetence of those doing the counting than in any deliberate effort to cook the books.
There is good reason why SVG has sometimes been called “the Third World’s Third World.”
Unbelievable. What is Dr Ralph talk about? Everytime he talks no one can take him seriously, every single thing he says he has to throw words. Way hapnu, yo Naym parrot? Talk about the issues and how we are going to solve them. As I have said before all our industries are dead, so what kind of meaningful recovery can we make? every other OECS country has a stake in agriculture, SVG is the only one with a leader foolish enough to disregard our few natural and sustainable resources.
Dr. Ralph, you need help, you are not an economist.Wwe have money being stolen in our country all the time so I believe that we have a least enough to hire a good economist and take it from there. This is not something you can argue your way out, it’s not a court room, it’s real life and require practical work and know how, and since it’s obvious to everyone that you are neither an economist or even know basic economics. Higher someone who does know and stop running your mouth every minute.
Stop cussing and trying to impress people every chance you get. Vincentians cannot eat your cussing, people are going to sleep hungry every night and all you do is cuss and run your mouth.
Ralph Gonsalves is not a LEADER. He is the most divisive, vindictive and badminded heartless mass of matter SVG ever had. He can never made a point without throwing “words” and cussing people. He is the reason why Vincentians are basically into two camps right now. He does not understand what it means to be Prime Minister of SVG. The trouble is that the majority of Vincentians at the time elected a criminal defense lawyer. Therefore, from his point of view it is always ‘we versus them’. SVG is at the very bottom of the OECS ladder. Yet we have the most eloquent Prime Minister in the region. What good is that to us when we have the highest rate of poverty and unemployment in the region? I have had enough of this numbskull. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of Ralph Gonsalves AND HIS POOR LEADERSHIP. TIME FOR HIM AND HIS MINIONS TO GO!!!!
If Argentina defaults on its debts in the next day or two, as many expect, can SVG be far behind?
With new American sanctions on Venezuela and more and more airlines refusing to fly there because of monies owed them by the country’s incompetent Marxist rulers, will SVG suffer any backlash for its close ties with that Socialist regime?
By the way, which international air carriers have now committed to or at least shown significant interest in servicing Argyle International Airport? With the airport scheduled to open by this time next year, at the latest, and with many people needing to make plans for international travel at least six-eight months in advance, the public has a right to know. I don’t understand why this has to be such a closely guarded state secret unless the answer to my question would have adverse implications for the re-election chances of the ruling ULP.