 Coming to you from our GIS studios, I am Anisia Antoine and this is your media news brief. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shastney has said 2019-2020 is going to be a very important year for the country. The Prime Minister says the budgetary proposals for the upcoming financial year are designed to achieve growth that will break the bonds of economic stagnation that has been holding back the country and the people. The two previous budgets he noted have built the foundation to cause best transformation. Prime Minister told Parliament that government's restructuring of the economy has helped to put St Lucia on a strong financial footing and as a result, the island has regained the confidence of business people and investors, locally and internationally. Citizen safety remains an area of urgency for the government of St Lucia. This is evident in the government's medium-term development plan for 2019-2022. In there is a strategy to strengthen capacity for investigation and prosecution. Prime Minister Shastney revealed in his budget presentation that the Forensic Lab is already working through the backlog of cases needed to provide evidence in pending criminal cases. Similarly, the reopening of the Niagara Criminal Court has resulted in 25% of old cases being cleared with the target of 70% of backlog cases being cleared by year-end. To culminate the celebrations and activities for Youth Month, the Department of Youth Development and Sports will host an awards ceremony to recognise young persons for their achievements during the past year. The nominations committee has shortlisted 30 young leaders. These awards 2019 will be held at the Financial Centre on Saturday, April 28th, 2019. This has been your Midday News Brief. Thank you for watching.