Delegación del FMI inicia visita a San Cristóbal y Nieves

IMF delegation visiting St. Kitts-Nevis

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has arrived here to conduct a review of the “locally grown” Stand-By Agreement (SBA) that ends in July.

The delegation is expected to meet Wednesday with Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas, who is also the finance minister, ahead of a joint meeting of the Federal cabinet and the Nevis Island Administration.

The IMF team met with officials from the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.

“We continue to perform as we’re performing under the advice of the IMF. The whole idea is that the period of adjustment and a new economic programme is what will set the stage for our future development,” Prime Minister Douglas said ahead of the talks.

“What we have introduced have been serious adjustments that we believe are necessary if we do not wish to…return where we have come from, so the government will continue to be conscious of all of the policies that we have introduced, and we’ll try our very best to continue them.”

The Prime Minister said that St. Kitts and Nevis has not used all of the funds made available to it, under the SBA arrangement.

“We’ve already asked the IMF before the end of the programme, that we have not really been using some of the money that you have advanced, so you should really begin to take it back, and we’re in discussion on that that right now.”

St. Kitts and Nevis entered into a three year US$84 million SBA with the IMF in 2011, at a time when the country’s debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio stood at over 200 per cent.

http://www.antiguaobserver.com/imf-delegation-visiting-st-kitts-nevis/