CASTRIES, St Lucia – The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) via letter from the political leader Philip J. Pierre to Esther Rigobert, permanent secretary (Ag.) in the department of finance, withdrew its representative on the Multi-Sectoral Committee, mandated to finalise an Economic Stimulus Strategy and Plan aimed at boosting economic recovery post-COVID-19.
The letter dated May 18, 2020, in part said: “ In accepting your invitation, I forwarded a letter dated 4 May to which unfortunately there has not been a response. In my letter, I nominated Dr. Ernest Hilaire to serve as my representative and he has since attended the first meeting of the Committee. I have been provided with the documents from that first meeting.
“Let me make it clear that as a Party, we support the need for an Economic Stimulus Strategy and Plan. We believe, like I stated, in my first letter that the Minister of Finance should have presented a Statement of Revenue and Expenditure that provides for basic Government functions and COVID-19 specific expenditure. This would cover a period of four months whilst we finalise a broader Strategy and Plan as mandated to the Multi-Sectoral Committee. Instead, the Minister presented an Annual Statement for the financial year ending March 2021. Included in that Statement are all the signature projects and programmes which the Government intended to implement from pre-COVID-19.
The Multi-Sectoral Committee seems to be continuing with that same approach. According to the notes from the meeting. [See letter below]
