KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC -The main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) Wednesday said that the 2024 national budget should focus on people and “not just projects.”
The government is expected to deliver the fiscal package in early January, and the NDP, in a statement, said, “engaging our people in building the economy and improving their circumstances is essential to our success.
“A budget that fails to do this will fail the people,” the party said ahead of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure to be presented to lawmakers within a week.
The NDP said that among the priorities the government should articulate in the next budget include a reduction in the value-added tax (VAT) from 16 to 13 percent, creating a pathway to put the National Insurance Service on a sustainable footing as well as reducing the interest rate for student loans by 50 percent.
The NDP said it called on the Ralph Gonsalves administration to develop projects to provide significant employment and create a national skills agency with government, business, and union representatives to fill jobs and meet the economy’s needs.
“We urge the government to include them in the budget to be presented in January,” the NDP said.
“We need to build an economy that will deliver accurate and noticeable improvement in wages, create more jobs, encourage the growth of new business, and offer opportunity for our young people to live and work here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“The country needs a jobs-led economic recovery. We want to deliver More Jobs, significantly increase wages, and generate sustained economic growth. To achieve this, we must enhance our training and education system to prepare young persons for the available jobs in the future, grow our economy to provide opportunities and create higher paying jobs,” the NDP added.
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