GRENADA-Government receiving less grant funding than targeted

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Grenada has received fewer grants for the seven months of January to July 2023 than last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance.

It said that the total grant received this year is EC$33.3 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) compared with EC$157.5 million last year.

“Total Grants in July 2023 amounted to EC$0.3 million, which was EC$5.8 million less than the target and EC$5.8 million less than the actual in July 2022,” according to the fiscal report for July 2023. For all the previous months, the government received less grant funding than targeted.

Coinciding with the reduced financial grants from regional and international donors, it also reduced disbursement and new borrowings during the second quarter of 2023.

There was no new borrowing in the second quarter of 2023. The second quarter covers the period from March to June 2023.

“Total loan disbursements in the second quarter of 2023 amounted to EC$12.8 million. EC$ 6.8 million was from the Republic of China, accounting for 53.1 percent of total disbursements. The remaining 46.9 percent was from three multilateral creditors. In the second quarter of 2023, disbursements were lower than in the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter in 2022,” said the latest public debt bulletin from the Ministry of Finance.

“Economic sectors for which funds were disbursed included agriculture, education and training, construction and infrastructure,” said the bulletin, which did not list the specific projects that received the funding.

With regards to the government’s debt, at the end of June 2023, it stood at EC$2,059.6, with the ministry noting that total Central Government and Government guaranteed debt fell by 1.5 percent when compared to the end of March 2023 and two percent when compared to the end of June 2022.

“Both domestic and external debts were lower at the end of June 2023 than their relative stocks at the end of March 2023,” said the bulletin, which explained that eternal Central Government debt was EC$1,647.5 million or 45.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of June 2023.

Non-bank financial institutions were the leading holders of domestic debt, totaling 43 percent of the household portfolio as of June 30.