Kingtown, St. Vincent.
Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace has accused Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of bringing the Vincentian economy to its worst state since the country gained independence in 1979.
In an address to the New York chapter of the New Democratic Party (NDP), on Saturday, the former Prime Minister accused the current administration of mismanaging the economy.
“Let him (Gonsalves) dispute that. In 2012, to our eternal shame, St. Vincent and the Grenadines exported EC$1.1 million in bananas. We used to do that in a week,” Eustace said, noting that the country’s record in banana earning for any one year is EC$111 million.
Eustace complained that the EC$799 million budget approveed by lawmakers in January includes a defict of EC $125 million and spoke of the specific ways in which this affects citizens,
"People are so fed up with the roads that it is not funny", Eustace said adding that the defict has implications for the country.
He restated his objection to St Vincent's participation in PetroCaribe, a pact with Venezula that allows participating countries to purchase oil on condition on preferential payment.
Eustace said that under PetroCaribe, the Government owes Venezuela owes EC$41 million, although Vincentian consumers have already paid the government for the fuel sourced under the agreement.
