Saint Lucia needs to become more self-sufficient in its recurrent expenditure, commerce minister says.
Due to the global financial situation, the Government of Saint Lucia is structuring its policy to limit the number of loans taken to repair and rehabilitate the island’s road network.
At the 2017 House meeting on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia Hon Allen M Chastanet announced an additional tax on fuel. During the debate on the Appropriation Bill that followed, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Commerce, Industry, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs, Hon Bradley Felix said Saint Lucia needs to take measures to become more self-sufficient in its recurrent expenditure.
“Saint Lucians and the people who traverse our roads have to deal with the terrible conditions of the roads [and the] cost of parts, tyres, and bottom pans. One thing that we all agree on is that we have too much debt, which is why we cannot borrow to fix roads.”
Minister Felix said the tax is incomparable to the cost of vehicle parts and vehicular repair when damages are sustained traversing the island’s road network.
“When you juxtapose this one fifty to the cost of the parts and the cost of what our daily commuters on the road have to face because of manoeuvring holes, falling into holes and everything else, that one fifty is a pinch.”
The debate on the Appropriation Bill has been adjourned to June 20.
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