Opposition calls on gov’t to give true picture of national debt

ST GEORGE’S (CMC):

The main Opposition New National Party (NNP) says it “is deeply concerned” by the Grenada government’s statement which it said “attempts to mislead the Grenadian people into believing that the nation’s debt burden is on the decline”.

The NNP said that while the statement by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) boasts of a reduction in Grenada’s public debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to 71.3 per cent in 2024, “what it deliberately conceals is the stark reality (that) Grenada’s public debt in absolute terms has increased by more than EC$700 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) in just over two years under the NDC”.

The NNP said that according to the Fiscal Responsibility Report at the end of 2022, when it demitted office, Grenada’s total public debt stood at two billion EC dollars, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 69.1 per cent.

“By the end of 2023 under the NDC, that ratio had already climbed to 75.1 per cent, a dramatic increase of six per cent in just one year, without a single new capital investment project,” the NNP said, adding that by the end of last year, the Ministry of Finance now reports the debt stock at EC$2.73 billion.

“That is an increase of more than EC$730 million, almost a billion dollars, a staggering rise in less than three years, hidden behind percentages and ratio tricks.

“The NDC is attempting to shift focus from the widespread corruption that is plaguing this administration, the continued increase in cost of living that the Grenadian people are struggling with every day, the housing crisis in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and their overall failure in governance of the country,” NNP added.