BASSETERRE St. Kitts, March 8th 2012 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister The Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas met on Tuesday with members of the St. Kitts and Nevis Competitiveness Council.
Prime Minister Douglas, who is also Minister of Finance, outlined the government’s stimulation of Growth and Competitiveness in a resilient St. Kitts and Nevis economy within the context of the new International Monetary Fund-supported economic development programme with support from regional financial institutions for the Federation’s major debt-restructuring exercise.
The meeting, the first for the year attended by Prime Minister Douglas lasted several hours and was chaired by the Council’s Chairman, Mr. Charles Wilkin, Q.C.
In his presentation during the working session, Dr. Douglas gave the background reasons for the IMF-supported home-grown economic programme, which has the strong support from creditors, the Caribbean Development Bank and Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Monetary Council, the new environment for growth and the prospects for new targets of significantly lowered Debt/GDP ratio of 90-110%; Primary Surplus of 6%; and Growth Rates of 3-4% in a new trend towards attaining those targets set by the Monetary Council of the ECCB and the increasing successes in crime-fighting with new and effective leadership of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.
The continued diversification of the tourism sector - prospective investments in medical tourism and quality improvement and expansion of the off-shore education sector was also discussed in addition to the government’s land distribution empowerment initiatives; the emerging new opportunities for entrepreneurship, commercial agriculture, and real estate development driven mainly by both options of the highly-supervised and well-regulated Citizenship by Investment Programme were also discussed.
He also spoke of the negotiations with commercial creditors to exchange their current bonds for a new bond offer and gave the rationale why the government took a firm decision in preserving the current investment in the Treasury Bills portfolio for the Federal Government and the Nevis Island Administration, making good on its promise to pay outstanding interests on existing bonds on the close of the new bond offer, pay out completely bond holders of certain specific size investments and greater details about the Special Purpose Vehicle for the purpose of the Debt Swap Initiative between the government and three major domestic creditors.
Council members expressed concerns with the potential threat of high fuel/energy and electricity costs on growth and competitiveness, and strongly advised the Right Hon. Prime Minister to bring to fruition new investment initiatives in the renewable energy sector involving geothermal, wind and solar energy to impact positively in reducing the high electricity costs for domestic and commercial consumers alike.
The competition in the distributive trade sector from the Asian (Chinese) entrepreneurs was also discussed at Tuesday’s meeting of the St. Kitts and Nevis Competitiveness Council.
The Council Members, in setting the future agenda for Stimulating Growth and Competitiveness, strongly advised the Government to immediately develop and implement a national campaign for Rewarding Excellence in Service and the Promotion of Productivity in both the Public and Private Sectors.
The meeting in the Board Room of the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) was attended by Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas; Cabinet Secretary Mr. Joseph Edmeade and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Mrs. Hilary Hazel.
Absent were CARICOM Ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Wendell Lawrence and Mr. Earl Kelly.
The Competitiveness Council was launched in December 2009.
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