The Keith Mitchell administration says it is robustly pushing ahead with a plan to reduce the country’s national debt.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell announced in parliament on Wednesday, that the plan includes reducing the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to 60% in the next 5 years. The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to fall from 109.1% in 2014 to 103.6% in 2015.
In presenting the new budget in parliament, the Prime Minister announced that at the completion of the current debt restructuring, the debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to fall to 89.5%
“Mr Speaker, there are some persons who continue to proclaim that this government is not paying debts,” Dr Mitchell said. “This is a blatant lie intended to make the previous administration look good and the current administration look bad.”
So far this year, government has made debt payments amounting to $299.9 million. This includes payment of EC$3.7 million to Taiwan which the previous administration refused to pay while in office.
“The public may recall that not only did the previous administration fail to pay Taiwan, but it could not negotiate a settlement. As a result, the assets of both the Airports Authority and the Ports Authority were under threat,” the Prime Minister pointed out. “It was this administration which resolved this longstanding problem”.
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