St Vincent and the Grenadines are among ECCU states with a projected growth rate of 3.1% in 2017; this according to a report by ECLAC entitled “Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2016”.
The report says there were no major upsets in fiscal policy across the ECCU economies during the first half of 2016, as the currency union’s fiscal performance improved relative to the same period the previous year.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines generated increased fiscal surpluses during the first six months of 2016 relative to the same period the previous year the report noted.
In aggregate, the ECCU current account surplus expanded to EC$ 306.1 million during the first six months of 2016 from EC$ 231.4 million over the same period in 2015.
This improvement in current operations was fuelled by an increase in current revenue that outstripped the rise in current expenditure during the first half of 2016.
Scheduled amortization payments and a partial overdraft repayment collectively underpinned the marginal (0.4%) decline in the total outstanding public debt of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to EC$ 1.603 billion during the first half of 2016, according to the report.
The construction, tourism, manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors continued to be the largest contributors to GDP in ECCU during the first half of 2016.
The report, however, stated that Private-sector tourism-related projects in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines drove increased activity in the construction sector relative to the same period the previous year.
By Ernesto Cooke
