Fellow Citizens, Residents and Visitors, I am pleased to greet you at the dawn of this New Year of grace and to wish each of you, on my own behalf and on behalf of my Government, a bright, productive and prosperous 2013. In the first few days of the New Year, we will witness the closing of a very successful and enjoyable Carnival during which our people have demonstrated their capacity for peaceful revelry and have displayed the abundance of creativity and talents with which we have been blessed as a Nation.
I must therefore use this opportunity to commend all of our citizens for their overwhelming participation in the Christmas and Carnival Celebrations and to congratulate all winners of the various competitions and other performers, including our Talented Teens, Calypsonians, National Queen Show Contestants, and our musicians, and side artistes who have thrilled the huge carnival audiences with their outstanding display of our rich cultural heritage. We look forward to the burst of colour and pageantry that is expected to bring down the curtains on the carnival celebrations in a grand finale - a grand finale without any incidence of violence. And in all of this we thank equally our revelers and our security forces who would have kept the peace throughout this period of celebration.
We have good reason to participate fully in the Carnival Celebrations and to warmly welcome the New Year that is ahead of us, because we are now poised to enter a new and exciting era of growth and opportunity. Of course, like citizens and residents of all other countries, we have been adversely affected by the global economic crisis which began in the United States Housing Sector in 2008 and which has spread throughout the world bringing uncertainty, fear and desperation to Governments, businesses, workers, and people on even the remotest corners of the globe.
As I intimated recently at the Chamber luncheon, the crisis has not even spared the developed countries of the world. The United States of America has seen its debt move beyond 100% of GDP and it now stands on the edge of ‘fiscal cliff” that threatens to push its economy into another recession with adverse consequences for growth prospects around the world. In Spain and Greece, the huge fiscal imbalances and massive escalation in debt have captured the attention of the international press but even more devastating is the level of youth unemployment, which in both of these countries, is in the region of 50%. In other words, in these developed European countries, every other young person is unemployed. Moreover, even China and Brazil that had seemed invincible in the early years of the crisis have now been forced to significantly reduce their growth expectation.
In St. Kitts and Nevis our people have also encountered some hardships as a result of the global economic crisis. Indeed, we are painfully aware that many of the policies we had to introduce to protect our nation from the ravages of the crisis that brought some short-term discomfort to our people. But we also knew that any delay in taking decisive action to combat the impact of the crisis could have resulted in the disorderly collapse of our economy with massive social and economic consequences for our people of this generation and future generations.
We understood that we had to make some short-term sacrifices as a nation to eliminate the risk associated with our high debt, correct our fiscal imbalances, and enhance the capacity of our country to deliver a better quality of life for our people well into the future. We also understood that we had to act expeditiously to put the well-being of our people beyond short-sighted political considerations. We therefore moved boldly forward with a comprehensive fiscal and economic strategy to save our people from the awful fate that has befallen so many persons in countries far more developed than our own.
Our efforts have yielded great rewards and have helped to place our economy in a position where we can look towards a return to economic growth and increased employment during this year, and an acceleration of such growth and employment over the years ahead. Indeed, unlike any other country of world, we are now far stronger than we were in 2008 when we were struck by the global economic crisis. In 2008 the national debt was approaching 200% of GDP but it has tumbled dramatically to reach its current level of 130% of GDP. Indeed, before the end of this year, it is expected to fall further to less than 100% of GDP. In 2008, we were tackling very troublesome fiscal imbalances but today we proudly report that at the end of the 2011 fiscal year we achieved a surplus on the current account, a surplus in respect of the primary balance and an overall surplus in respect of the fiscal operations of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. In 2008, we struggled under the weight of a mammoth bank overdraft. Today, the overdraft is gone and we now have money on the bank.
In 2008, we were classified as middle income country by the World Bank. Today, after being suffering the effects of the global crisis for over four years, we have now been upgraded and reclassified as a high income country. A statement by the White House in the United States of America has confirmed this most remarkable achievement by our Federation, which is the tiniest country in this hemisphere. In other words, we are now in the highest category of countries, based on the World Bank classification. Indeed, we are the only OECS country in this category.
Fellow citizens, residents and visitors, we did not reach this position overnight. The road was long and arduous but we overcame many challenges by holding firmly to a carefully crafted strategic plan that has kept us focused on our long-term development goals even as we tackle the ever changing short-term realities that we face from time to time. For instance, when we were faced with a series of hurricanes in 1990’s we had the option of balancing our books by leaving our infrastructure in a state of disrepair or borrowing to immediately rebuild our country. I am convinced that it is this massive investment in our people and in our infrastructure, that has enabled us to cope with the current global economic crisis and to look forward to a New Year and new era with great optimism.
As a result of this investment, thousands of our people have benefitted from affordable homes provided directly through Government implemented housing programmes or through generous fiscal incentives provided by the Government; our children are provided high quality education facilitated by modern computer laboratories and laptop computers given, free of cost, to every student; our health system has been expanded and modernized; the management, operations, and infrastructure of the security forces have been upgraded with a resulting reduction in crime; and thousands of people have been provided lands so that the percentage of our nationals who own land is among the highest in the Caribbean and the stigma of landlessness that was associated with our workers has been completely obliterated. It is not surprising therefore that our country continues to occupy a coveted position in higher echelons of the United Nations Human Development Index.
Over the course of the next year, we will devote considerable effort to boosting the growth rate and providing more jobs for our people. We will seek to boost youth employment directly through the introduction of the new youth development project that I announced last year at the National Consultations on the Economy. Specifically, this project, the People for Employment Program (PEP) which launched last month, is being implemented by the National Skills Training Programme to benefit some 1,000 unemployed persons by providing them training, job attachments and assistance in establishing businesses. It is our aim that the private sector play an important role in the implementation of this project, especially through the provision of job attachment opportunities for these young people.
We have awarded contracts for rehabilitating and rebuilding the Southeast Peninsula road starting at the roundabout at the Zennway Boulevard in Frigate Bay. We are awaiting final tender documents for the reconstructions of the roads starting at Port Zante along the Bay Road into the Pond Road via Sand Down Road and constructing a roundabout at the intersection of the Kim Collins Highway, the Frigate Bay Road, and Bird Rock Road.
In addition, we will carry out a comprehensive survey of the state of roads in St. Kitts and implement a multi-year programme of road repairs and improvement. We will accelerate the pace at which we provide infrastructure to the lands allocated by Government as part of the Special Land Initiative, and to land allocated for commercial development in Conaree, St. Peters, Cayon, St. Pauls, Fig Tree / Sandy Point and Lime Kiln.
There is also a number of new private sector developments planned for commencement this year, including the expansion of the Ross University Veterinary School, the Park Hyatt Hotel at Banana Bay, the expansion and upgrading of the rooms at the Marriott Hotel.
With the construction of new facilities for the Marriott Residences and new Marriott Towers, there is also the construction of the Koi Resort and the Beach and Golf Residences at Half Moon Bay. The successful completion of these projects would generate economic activity by providing over 1,000 additional high quality hotel rooms, and by enabling us to cater to more university students from overseas.
Our economy is therefore very well placed to move confidently into a new phase of accelerated economic growth. Of course, every citizen has a role to play in moving our Country forward. In fact, the commitment, creativity and hard work of our people have contributed immeasurably to our success. I must therefore take this opportunity to recognize two outstanding nationals who have played critical roles in the development of our nation.
I am pleased to announce that in recognition for his outstanding contribution to national development through his work in the public service, Her Majesty the Queen has conferred the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on Mr. James Williams, former High Commissioner at the Court of St. James in London. Moreover, Her Majesty has conferred the Member of the British Empire (MBE) on Mr. Franklyn Brown for his long, dedicated and outstanding contribution in education on the island of Nevis.
I must also take this opportunity to recognize the exceptional contribution of our Governor General, His Excellency Dr. Sir Cuthbert Montraville Sebastian, GCMG, OBE, MD, CM who will retire from the office of Governor General as of midnight tonight. His Excellency, who has occupied the position of Governor General with the grace, humility, and dignity befitting of this very high office, has been a solid source of support to me personally and to the entire Government since his appointment to Office in 1996. His contribution to the advancement of our people is immeasurable. I am certain that the entire country will join with me in thanking him sincerely for his outstanding dedication and commitment to the country and in wishing him a happy and peaceful period of retirement.
Sir Cuthbert will be succeeded by Sir Edmund Wickham Lawrence KCMG, OBE, who will move on from one area of outstanding contribution to our nation to the high office of Governor General. In keeping with practice and custom Her Majesty the Queen has approved his appointment to the Office and has conferred upon him the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG). I have no doubt the country will reap great benefits from the outstanding intellect and solid experience of Sir Edmund. We congratulate Sir Edmund, Lady Hulda Lawrence and children.
Fellow Citizens and Residents, our country is very well placed to move to the next level of development where our people would enjoy an abundance of opportunities for self-advancement. The international community has expressed faith in us by elevating our country to the status of high income country. We must live up the standards of this most lofty designation. We cannot afford to allow ourselves to be distracted from the challenging task of nation-building by petty political squabble. We are one nation and one people. We must therefore unite our effort for the advance of all. I assure you that I will be true and faithful to the trust and confidence you reposed in me and my Government in 2010 and do everything possible to advance your welfare and ensure that the overwhelming mandate that you gave to my Government will guide our deliberations and actions throughout our period in Office.
Again I must wish each and every one of you a Happy and Blessed New Year.
