The SVG economy is in shambles and is getting weaker day by day. The implications of the weak economy are very serious. The socially conscious SVG Green party is calling for a live television SVG economy debate between the two leaders, Ivan O’Neal and Ralph Gonsalves, to be held in March 2008 in SVG.

Whereas PM Gonsalves says it is difficult to live without grants and the incompetent ULP regime relies on heavy begging, heavy borrowing and heavy taxation to keep the SVG economy afloat, the competent SVG Green party has a positive alternative approach to generate enough revenue to cover rising recurrent expenditure, and more importantly, to generate a significant surplus to fund capital expenditure.

The ULP regime has had 17 years in opposition plus 7 years in office and in all these 24 years they have shown no innovation to successfully manage the SVG economy independent of begging, borrowing and heavy taxation. The main difference between SVG Green party and the ULP regime, is that the SVG Green party has the full capacity and ability to competently manage SVG’s economy without dependency on grants. The ULP regime has shown that they cannot.

The SVG Green party endeavours to show this gap in the management of SVG’s economy between the ULP and the SVG Green party during the economic debate. The ULP regime believes in a single-sector approach in managing SVG’s economy based on mass tourism and are saying that without mass tourism the SVG economy is dead. SVG Green party is saying that this RUBBISH.

We know that a multi-sector approach is the most suitable to generate revenue to cover the cost of rising recurrent expenditure, plus a significant surplus to fund capital expenditure. That is the bottom that divides the SVG Green party philosophy between the ULP regime philosophy. This difference of school of thought needs to be urgently unravelled in a live economic debate between the two leaders. SVG Green party supports limited tourism but not mass tourism.

Under the ULP regime’s crazy single-sector economic approach agriculture has gone and exports have gone and we are being swamped by imports. The ULP regime’s approach is killing the rural economy perpetuating poverty, crime, lawlessness and a sense of hopelessness. The SVG economy is so bad that the IMF is calling for a cut in public sector employment. The ULP regime may be forced to follow the recommendations of the IMF if SVG keeps the ULP approach. These are the issues that need to be debated to inform the people. We have to get rid of this ULP regime school of thought or else we will see significant public sector job losses and greater economic insecurity and crime and lawlessness.

The objective of the debate is bring out the two schools of thought of running the SVG economy. We are saying that theirs is holding SVG and its people back. Unless we drop the ULP regime’s approach we will fall deeper and deeper in to subserviency and dependency. Our self-esteem must rise above the dependency culture or else we become slaves in our own country.