Following a review visit to Nevis in October, the IMF has said that the island's economy is moving in the right direction, with 2006 results set to better those achieved in 2005 according to a preliminary, unofficial report to the government.
Budget Analyst in the Nevis Island Administration Ms. Hazel Brandy disclosed
as much to a pre-estimate budget meeting of government officials during preparation
of the 2007 Budget which is due in December, 2006. She attributed the improvements
to a rigorous restructuring process at the Inland Revenue Department and the
Customs Division which resulted in a significant increase in the revenue collected.
However, Premier and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Joseph Parry stressed
the need to his Nevis Reformation Party Administration to widen the tax base.
Financial Secretary Laurie Lawrence warned that there was a debt service ratio
of 30%, and that the costs of civil servants accounted for over 40% of current
revenue at the end of 2005.
The IMF team, meeting the new Nevis administration for the first time since
it was installed after July elections, said it was concerned about debt reduction
and debt control.
“Of course this Administration has an agenda of people empowerment which
to a certain extent, would have an impact on the recurrent side in the Budget
over the next five years which means, we have to look at ways and means how
we could develop economic activity on the island so that we could sustain the
level of development that we expect from the programmes outlined by this Administration,”
said Mr Lawrence.
Elections on the island of Nevis, part of the twin island federation of St Kitts
and Nevis, saw the Nevis Reformation Party win three of the five seats in the
island's assembly, meaning that the party's leader, Joseph Parry, will replaced
former Nevisian leader, Vance Amory of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM).
The CCM had been in power in Nevis for the past fourteen years and was the party most closely linked with seceding from neighbouring St Kitts. Nevis came close to seceding in a 1998 referendum, falling just short of the required two-thirds majority. During the election, Vance Amory said that independence for his island was still a goal of his government.
Nevis has created separate 'offshore' legislation parallel to Federation legislation, and believes that its economic progress has been due to having greater control over its own affairs.
St Kitts and Nevis are islands in the Caribbean Sea, about one-third of the way from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and Tobago. The two volcanic islands, which are renowned for their beautiful mountain scenery, total 261 sq km in area and are separated by a three-km-wide channel called The Narrows; Nevis Peak sits in the center of its almost circular namesake island and its ball shape complements that of its sister island.
The Federation of St Kitts and Nevis finally attained full political independence in 1983 and, in order to relieve the anxiety of Nevisians, Nevis acquired autonomy within the Federation, together with its own Legislature and Cabinet. .
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