Saturday, May 25, 2013

St. Lucia in Serious Financial Trouble

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great stuff..I can only hope the bright minds and the "best brains" can understand this.

May 25, 2013 at 6:55 PM
Anonymous said...

@May 25, 2013 at 6:55 PM

From where? If wishes were horses beggars would ride.

Understanding and comprehension of relevant knowledge is fundamental to making innovative and creative changes to existing systems. This extends to products, technologies including management technologies.

Do you see any of this in the toolbox of the combined Ministry of Finance and or in the Minister of Finance?

May 26, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Anonymous said...

Nobody in government today shows any understanding of the economic model relevant to explaining and predicting our economic system's performance. We get the usual crap of a budget full of lame excuses why we can't do better. To uneducated, mis-educated, and undereducated, it is a sop for their uneasy conscience, providing a rationale for gross and characteristically endemic ineptitude and lousy government.

Our reality is what it is and not what it used to be. Honesty requires us to deal with the reality and not hide behind our inadequacies, ignorance, and downright awkward stupidity.

May 26, 2013 at 11:25 AM
Anonymous said...

The electorate of the western world is now filled with 'low information voters'. With or without degrees they are ignorant or only interested in short term gains.
peter has made good points but his fellow businessmen are only interested in saving their collective necks so do not care how much is borrowed.
the hacks and kenny do not care as long as they get their pound of flesh.
No amount of common sense can get through the political agenda and greed. In his last lap kenny is finally sticking it to you ungrateful and not too bright lucians. Get used to it until 2016.

May 27, 2013 at 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...

Rosa Charles (UK) says............

I am no politician. I am a tourist from the UK, with St Lucian parents. I contribute to St Lucia by being a tourist, who has visited St Lucia 12 times, over the past 18 years. Most recently, May 2013.

My parents, who are married for 55 years, worked hard in the UK for 38years. They paid their taxes, they bought their own home and raised and educated their 4 children. They sold up and returned to their beloved island and set up home in St Lucia 18 years ago.

I have never really taken an interest in the politics of St Lucia, until my most recent visit. I must say I was shocked to hear that some of the people of St Lucia are displeased with the introduction of VAT. I, as a tourist, never realized that there was no VAT charges at all in St Lucia. I just never really gave it a second thought.

Many of your readers may already know in the UK VAT is currently charged at 20% and was introduced in 1973. The UK joined the European Union and replaced the existing Purchase Tax with VAT.

In my lifetime I have only known an economy with VAT.

Advantage
Governments who use this method see a greater amount of income than from any other sales taxation system.

Disadvantage
The main downside to the VAT system is the increase in the amount of accounting a business needs to perform. This can especially hurt developing countries and small business.

However with the growing debt in St Lucia the government's borrowing programme could then ease.

I would hope that this new Taxation reaches those who really need it. E.g. Health, Education, Poverty and develop more Employment Opportunities.

As long as the current Government is transparent, accountable and forward thinking this is a good thing for St Lucia.

May 29, 2013 at 5:31 PM
Anonymous said...

The English contributor above seems to have learnt nothing in 12 trips here. That is to be expected as he comes from the English police liberal state which has been going downhill fast under its far left anti Christian leaders. Even their so called Conservative pm is nothing more than a left leaning lib. The English electorate is a low information voter incapable of sound analysis having assumed The role of the modern day peasant to their liberal elite class.
Yes you pay VAT but what do you do with it? The UK is bankrupt, has low growth, a horrible NHS, no jobs, the young cannot afford to own a home, industry is dead, you all are silenced by the socialist state while income inequality grows then you come here with your useless hear no evil analysis which means nothing and represents the servitude that you wallow in to Your elite liberal masters in the UK. A waste of blogging time.

May 30, 2013 at 6:11 AM
Anonymous said...

Every St Lucian knows that in 1997 the labour party led by kenny came in on a platform of accountability and transparency. Within one year that lie had to be dropped. 2 billion dollars in debt later with Rochamel Grynsberg NCA cost overuns party hack favours 22% unemployment 5% inflation we have the clueless talking about transparency and accountability !

May 30, 2013 at 6:18 AM
Anonymous said...

Visitors are excused. They just as clueless as the government of idiots, for idiots and by idiots. Did you ever hear of sustained growth under communism? We have even worse, a clueless communist who has only shown arrogance and highhandedness as main growth tactics. En rouge! Suck it up SLP idiots!

May 30, 2013 at 12:38 PM
Anonymous said...

Rosa . Thank you for your contribution. I do not think anyone in SLU is against the VAT that is not the jist of my article. We are looking for our captain to steer us in the right direction but our ship is almost floundering while there is a huge amount of talk and acting. We live here so your just holidaying you will not see nor/understand what persons with some understanding are seeing happening to our lovely island. PWL

May 30, 2013 at 1:21 PM
Anonymous said...

The government of St.Lucia is in the process of borrowing more money to pay all of its bills. The amounts were as follows:
1. $200 million EC via savings bonds to finance the 2013/14 budget
2. $70 million EC to rollover existing debt on the regional government exchange market
3. $7 million US in bonds on the regional government exchange market
4. $67 million EC on a fix note interest rate to finance capital or recurring expenditure for the 2013/2014 budget
5. $18 million US at a fix rate note to rollover existing debt
6. Total: US$25 MILLION and EC $337 MILLION
Your thoughts?

May 31, 2013 at 7:31 AM
Anonymous said...

So what is unusual about that? Where have you been for the past 16 years? Phillip and kenny increased debt by $200 million annually from 1997 to 2006.
you all never asked these incompetents to account for even one cent!
100 MILLION 200 MILLION 400 million 600 million - who cares. You did not before- why start Now !
St lucians are incapable of a serious thought much less a discussion. Vice permeates the society. All you want to take about is how to put a condom on, how to whine, how to legalize prostitution and gay marriage and how to have a safe killing of children aka abortion.
the same way you only want to talk about vice the same way you only want to support borrowing and not cutting expenditure.
En rouge baby! Labour time is their time to feed at the trough!

May 31, 2013 at 8:36 AM
Anonymous said...

Phillip Pierre and kenny spent over $11,000,000,000 in their disastrous time at the helm.
What the hell did these narcissistic fools do to improve the quality if life in st lucia ?

May 31, 2013 at 8:40 AM
Anonymous said...

Kindergarden stops there where someone start to inform themself indipendend and not listen to the propaganda of the political partys only.
Unfortunatly is there really a different between SLP and UWP when it comes to waist taxpayer money and keep very silent on how the $$$ are spend?
Our problem is that any minister can waist money and he will get away with it. :-((

June 1, 2013 at 12:44 PM

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