CASTRIES, St. Lucia – The St. Lucia government says it raised revenue totaling EC$1.68 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) during the 2023-24 fiscal year in order to finance government operations and capital projects.
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Phillip J Pierre, said that his administration had also been able to keep within the 2023-2024 budget ceiling of EC$1.856 billion.
He said preliminary data up to February 2024, points to the government spending approximately EC$1.68 billion for the fiscal year 2023-2024, an estimated 9.3 per cent below the approved estimates.
“The analysis shows that the results of this fiscal year were better than last year illustrating an improvement in the performance of the St. Lucian economy. These surpluses are not to be interpreted as the government having extra cash.
“Instead, it is the result of the prudent fiscal management of the country’s finances, which allowed it to more than meet its recurrent expenditure, leaving excess revenue to cover in part, the country’s debt obligations in interest payments and principal payments,” Pierre said.
He said had his administration not been able to do so, the government would have had to borrow to meet some of its recurrent expenditures, including salaries and wages, rent, utilities, and the like.
“We have responsibly avoided this scenario and will continue to avoid it through prudent fiscal management of the government’s finances,” Pierre said, adding that the primary surplus balance indicates that the country is developing the capacity to reduce its level of debt over time.
He said a deficit on the primary account would have indicated that revenue and grants would be inadequate to pay the interest on debt. As a result, no contribution would have been made towards any reduction in the debt expenses.
“Notwithstanding those current account surpluses the government will experience an overall deficit in 2023-2024 of EC$111 million or EC$65 million less than last year indicating a lowering of the deficit gap,” Pierre added.
