By Nelson A. King
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Opposition Leader, Dr.
Godwin Friday Sunday evening
painted a very bleak picture of
the nation’s economy, claiming
that it is in “terrible shape and
getting worse.”
“The constant complaint you
hear is one of economic hardship
and decline — businesses failing,
people losing jobs and losing
hope,” Friday, president of the
main opposition New Democratic
Party (NDP), told a town hall
meeting at the Friends of Crown
Heights Educational Center in
Brooklyn.
“Despite all the talk of progress
and the boast of performance, the
economy under the ULP (Unity
Labor Party of Prime Minister
Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves) government
has performed poorly, in
absolute terms and relative to
other OECS (Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States) countries,”
he added.
Friday was invited to New York
to keynote the town hall meeting,
organized by the Brooklynbased
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Progressive Organization
of New York, otherwise known
by the acronym SPOONY, an
arm of the NDP.
In pointing to figures in economic
Caribbean L 12 ife, December 13-19, 2019
growth in the sub-regional
OECS, from the Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank (ECCB),
from 2014 to 2018, the opposition
leader said St. Vincent and
the Grenadines was at the bottom
of the table of the other
countries — Antigua and Barbuda,
Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts
and Nevis, and St. Lucia.
Friday noted that while Antigua
and Barbuda, for example,
achieved 3.8 percent in economic
growth in 2014, 3.83 in 2015,
5.5 in 2016, 3.15 in 2018 and
7.39 in 2018, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines was 1.21 in 2014,
1.33 in 2015, 1.9 in 2016, 1.0 in
2017 and 2.16 in 2018.
He said the forecast for this
year is “not any better,” with the
ECCB estimating that the Vincentian
economy will grow by a
mere 1.2 percent.
“That does nothing for job
creation,” said Friday, who represents
the Northern Grenadines
in Parliament.
He said when the NDP was
in office, for over 17 years, the
economy had an average annual
growth rate of close to 5 percent.
“Standard of living improved,
and the jobs number, while still
too high, was better than today,”
Friday said. “So, never mind the
rhetoric of the ULP trumpeters,
the New Democratic Party
government was better by far for
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
than the ULP.
“As everyone knows, the faster
an economy grows, the more
jobs and business opportunities
it creates, and the more the
lives of the people improve,” he
added.
Friday said agriculture, one of
the main sectors of the economy,
“or used to be,” has “declined
significantly” under the ULP
administration.
He said this is “most evident”
in the loss of millions of dollars
in earning from the banana
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwiin
Friday addresses town hall meeting in Brooklyn Sunday
night. Photo by Nelson A. King
industry.
Friday said the heyday was
in the early 1990s, when over
$100m a year was earned by the
industry.
He said while there were
“clearly challenges” in the European
market in the late 1990s,
“quick intervention by the then
NDP administration and the
other governments of the Windward
Islands to negotiate with
the supermarkets and other
stakeholders in Europe gave
farmers hope to continue to produce.”
In 2001, the St. Vincent and
the Grenadines Opposition Leader
said the country earned $37
million from the sale of bananas;
but, in 2012, “the Minister of
Agriculture reported that a mere
$1.5 million was earned that year
for bananas.”
SVG opposition leader paints
bleak economic picture