BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, SEPTEMBER 20TH 2013 (CUOPM) – A day after civil servants and pensioners received a double salary this month, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas says a decision on a pay increase for Federal civil servants by the end of the year is possible.
Stating in his address to the Nation on Thursday to mark the 30th Anniversary of Independnce, Dr. Douglas, who is also Minister of Finance, said development is a never ending process and efforts must be made to continuously strive to protect the achievements made over the years in relation to prosperity, creativity, stability and all of the other goals that have been set.
He said he has summarized the great progress made as a people over the last 30 years and they are quite impressive.
“In fact, in this term in office alone we have halved our national debt, reduced crime, improved the reliability of electricity, replaced all deficits in our fiscal account with healthy surpluses, and wiped out bank overdrafts with positive and substantial bank balances,” stating that it is not surprising that St. Kitts and Nevis has been labelled a high income country by the international financial institutions.
“But we have not arrived, there is still much to do as I reminded numerous thousands of citizens, residents, and friends at the Independence 30 Super Concert moments after midnight at Warner Park,” said Dr. Douglas.
He said his Labour Party Administration’s immediate goal is to increase growth and expressed he was confident that “we have turned the corner in this regard and that the numerous projects and initiatives that I have outlined here today, will dramatically raise the level of economic activity.”
He said also in addition the double salary that was paid this month to Government workers and any increase in the salary of Government workers over the next few months will act as a fiscal stimulus.
“We are convinced that our public servants and pensioners deserve to be rewarded for their outstanding service over the years and we have therefore set in place the appropriate mechanisms to decide on a pay increase for Government workers by year end,” Prime Minister Douglas said.