 Thank you very much. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I stand in support of the resolution put forward by the Minister for Finance to borrow US $6 million from the Africa Export-Import Bank to finance the construction of social infrastructure and other facilities damaged or destroyed by tropical storm brett under an education reality. This loan, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is to be repaired in 7 years, which significantly includes a grace period of 2 years. The rate of interest on the loan is fixed at 6% per annum. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am indeed heartened by this novel approach towards seeking non-traditional sources of funding for our development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I have, through various international and regional fora, advocated for South-South cooperation as it provides a space for developing countries to engage in development cooperation through collaboration and partnerships to address their development challenges. In this regard, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we are beginning to see the tangible expression of South-South cooperation with the deepening of trade and investment partnerships between Africa and the Caribbean. The Africa Export-Import Bank opened a curriculum office in Barbados on August 4th this year and has committed US $1.5 billion to enable member states of the Caribbean community that had ratified the partnership agreement with the Africa Export-Import Bank to tap into the bank's various financial instruments. The financing will be targeted at supporting critical economic sectors aimed at boosting the development of trade enabling infrastructure as well as enhancing trade and investment between Africa and Caricum Member States while supporting small and medium enterprises. It is significant to note, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that the bank has committed to increase its credit limit from US $1.5 billion to $3 billion. The Africa Export-Import Bank or AFREXIM Bank is a planned African multilateral financial institution mandated to promote finance and promote intra and extra African trade. It is the view of our government, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that the Caribbean needs to diversify its trade and investment relationships to provide mutual benefits to both Caricum and Africa. It is hoped that our exports can be expanded by entering into the African market and that we can also purchase more African products. Similarly, we expect that African countries will see investment opportunities in the Caribbean and that Caribbean businesses may also venture into investment opportunities in Africa. We also expect partnerships to develop and that African Caribbean companies be established. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that we are already benefiting from this partnership with this loan to help the government of St. Lucia finance the rehabilitation of our social infrastructure in particular schools. Mr. Deputy Speaker, as you may be aware from the numerous presentations made before this honorable house by our Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and all the honorable members on this side of the house, we inherited a fiscal mess and therefore with no fiscal space to manuva the first order of business for our government has had to be cost correction. Namely to bring the fiscal situation under control and onto a path of fiscal and debt sustainability. This legacy has been exacerbated, Mr. Deputy Speaker, by the infrastructure deficit that has been bequift to our government. Despite this huge fiscal challenge, Mr. Deputy Speaker, under need to develop an infrastructure program to close the infrastructure deficit, our government has continued to explore innovative and cost effective financing measures to provide financing for some of the critical infrastructure for our country. Even before our economy returns to normalcy and I will come to the Carrie Chris report momentarily, Mr. Deputy Speaker. We saw this, Mr. Speaker, in the approach to financing the St. Jude Hospital project from the Saudi fund for development as the former government left no money, Mr. Deputy Speaker, no money. I repeat, no money to complete the St. Jude Hospital. What they left, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is a huge bill of millions of dollars which they owed the contractor, but they continue to mislead the public by saying that they would have completed St. Jude in six months. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Honorable Prime Minister and Minister for Finance must be commended for this financing opportunity from the Africa Export Input Bank to help us repair some of the critical infrastructure and educational infrastructure that requires immediate attention. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Honorable Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has declared the next budget for our fiscal year 2024-2025 to be an infrastructure budget. It is a budget that I am sure Mr. Deputy Speaker will bring significant relief to the people of St. Lucia and help boost investor confidence through the provision of sound infrastructure, sound public infrastructure, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, we will not do like the former government and build roads in highly remote areas. We will also not engage in wasteful and irresponsible expenditure that places a huge burden on the taxpayer with little value for citizens. We will instead, Mr. Deputy Speaker, build infrastructure to ensure that the people of this country benefit. I therefore lend my full support to the resolution, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to allow the Minister for Finance to borrow six million U.S. dollars from the Africa Export Input Bank to finance the construction of social infrastructure and other facilities damaged or destroyed by tropical storms. Under an education, rehabilitation, climate-linked facility under the terms and conditions specified in the resolution, namely the loan to be repaid in seven years with a two-year grace period and an interest rate of six percent. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I cannot conclude this intervention without accentuating to this honorable house that we are governing this country and delivering to the people in very difficult times, Mr. Speaker. And I was rather surprised, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to hear the leader of the opposition talk about people are suffering and people need relief and people this and people that. Where was that conviction when the leader of the opposition was the prime minister of this country? You see, Mr. Deputy Speaker, people will conveniently forget that at this time during the leader of the opposition storm as prime minister, what was happening in this country? What was happening? They have stopped the laptop program. They stopped the Kasseri's Grosili Highway. They stopped the Sufra Square. They stopped the Sanjus Hospital Reconstruction Project. They stopped the PPP with the World Bank for the HIA redevelopment. They shut down the abattoir, spent $13.6 million on a road for DSH, another $20 million for incinerators, $13 million for relocation to Violet. But Mr. Speaker, I can go on and on and on by this time during that term, the first half of that term, they accomplished absolutely nothing. But in very difficult times, Mr. Speaker, we are delivering to the people of this country what the leader of the opposition should do is to cooperate with this government. Whilst we deliver to the people of this country on the very trying circumstances, we borrowed about 40% in terms of the total amounts in the OECS during the leader of the opposition's time as prime minister. And our economy was in a deficit position in 2019 before COVID. And our ability to have responded to the COVID pandemic would depend on our starting fiscal position. And we contracted by 24.4% among the highest in the world. And during COVID, where was your concern for the people you spoke about, Mr. Leader of the Opposition? You got over $300 million during that period from World Bank, from me, from that. How much of that you spent giving income support to the people of this country? There was no stimulus for farmers, no stimulus for our barbers and hairdressers, no stimulus for our craft vendors, no stimulus for our entertainers, no stimulus for the self-employed sentlosions, no stimulus at all. People were gasping for air and they were sucking salt during that period. Where was that conviction? Where was the love for the most vulnerable, the dispossessed? Where was that deep conviction and concern? No where to be found. But you see, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we took the economy in a bad condition. We did not make the excuse that we cannot do this or that because the economy is in shambles. We brought back the laptop program and we're still in the first half compared to your first half where you did absolutely nothing. Education assistance, housing program, payment of facility fees at the schools to ease the squeeze on the parents, payment of math and English. Look, we have already started the Gold 80 plus health program. We resumed the St. Jude Hospital project and the conversation today is no longer about completing St. Jude Hospital. That's a foregone conclusion. That's a foregone conclusion. We are now talking about what is more important, equipping the hospitals further so we can deliver better health care to the people of this country. And of course, and of course, and of course you inherited a good economy, a stable macroeconomic framework, a solid fiscal position from the member of Yufotsaw as Prime Minister. He made sacrifices to ensure that he re-established order in the nation's finances. And what did you do, Mr. Leader of the Opposition, with that space? Shuval, shuval, shuval, shuval, shuval. And the only thing you understood at the time was if it was in the shape of a horse. Nothing else! Nothing else! Nothing else! But you come there in this house and look at this Minister for Finance and Prime Minister and this government and talk about the people, what people? Can you, Rogers, you spent more than five years as Prime Minister and you were singing the people's business out of key. And you want to come there and sing a nice little song as if we're doing something which is bad. And I'll tell you that $14.6 million could have fixed up roads in the library constituency. It could have fixed up some schools in the library constituency. They stopped the library market. They stopped all the CDP projects but today in the first half compared to yours, the library market is back in action. And very soon we shall begin the construction. The Majumil Road to open up library for development. Our two waterfalls and the farmers. There is great anticipation and I'm hoping that with the year of infrastructure the 1.5 miles remaining will connect it with bands. We have in the first half of our term joined Montvei with Maganie. During the first term they did absolutely nothing. Saint Lucia was in a financial coma, in a development coma, but now the SLP is in office. We have gained some new life. I'm trying to organize a match against the government. You don't know the match will be an Esquimal Papai match. How can they match against facilities fees? How can they match against getting a break on building materials? You want the people to match against that? Do you expect them to match against those things? And you know, talking about schools, so far I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taking care of the Uje Combined School and the library boys. Significant amount of work in the first half. And we are now putting the economy back on track. Can you imagine with a bad economy that this country is climbing like a homesick angel, far less when it returns to normalcy. When we hit next year God's way in the budget of infrastructure, Balfini, Villanoasak, there will be heightened activity, economic activity in the country and of course because of that level of activity, the noise of the opposition shall not be heard. Because they are sinking in the rising tide of the success of this current administration. And so, Mr. Deputy Speaker, before I take my brief intervention to its logical conclusion, I want to allude to something that the minister, the leader of the opposition is trying to accentuate. You see, you can take facts and you can shape it into a misleading linear progression. You can do that. You take the facts and you shape it in whatever way that you want. So I want to make some brief comments. He said that the Kary Chris had kept St. Rusia's credit rating unchanged from the previous period at Kary BBB minus. Fact. That's a fact. Kary Chris' credit ratings are based on five factors. These are one income and economic structure, two fiscal policy, three monetary, financial and exchange rate policy, four external sector and five political environment. These are the areas. A summary of the overall risk assessment compared with the previous period is shown in the table that is contained in the report. Kary BB minus indicates moderate credit risk with respect to the timely service of debt obligations and that the outlook is stable. A review of the components reveal the following. One, income and economic structure. St. Rusia has been given on change assessment at BBB plus. This is considered to be adequate. This on change assessment needs to be clarified as St. Rusia's economic performance has improved considerably as it has recovered appreciably from the pandemic. So that was 2020-22, now in 2023. It is actually on the path of recovery. It is on a different trajectory. The economy is not in a state of Inosha. Things will not remain the same. We are evolving. Economic growth has been recorded at 12.2% and 18.1% in 2021 and 2022 respectively. This economic growth has been propelled by the rapid recovery in the tourism sector which has shown the resilience of this sector. So don't try to grade the impact of tourism. Do not try to make a pop issue out of it as if we control the external environment totally. The labour market has also improved substantially with unemployment falling to 16.5%. The lowest in several years Mr. Deputy Speaker. Government has also taken steps to improve the ease of doing business through financial structure reforms including credit report legislation for closure legislation, bankruptcy and insolvency legislation and the secured transaction collateral registry legislation. Moreover, the outlook for Senrushia's economy is positive as it continues its resurgence in 2023 Mr. Deputy Speaker. As a matter of facts, the Ministry of Finance has projected growth I think in the first instance if I recall remember correctly about in excess of four. But of course there is always room for revision based on the dynamic so more or less about 3.2 in that particular region. It has been propelled by growth in tourism. It is also anticipated that growth in the medium term will remain favorable given the level of public and private investment forecasted. We note Karikris states that and I quote based on the improvements in real GDP over the last two years, government of Senrushia's output performance is trending towards achievement of the GDP rating sensitivity factor. Karikris may update its outlook. Karikris may update its outlook or rating in future review periods if progress persists. Persist. On quote. That's on page eight of the report. Given the substantial improvement in Senrushia's economic growth rates over the last two years 2021 and 2022 and real economic growth of either 4.8% or 3.2% whatever it is in that vicinity as well as favorable economic growth prospects over the medium term given the projected increase in construction activity. It is our considered view Mr. Deputy Speaker that the income and economic structure rating should be upgraded. Fiscal policy. We note Karikris has kept Senrushia's rating of fiscal policy on change at BB below average. Despite the substantial improvement in our fiscal position. Despite the substantial improvement in our fiscal position. So it's not static, we're not there yet because we say we are not out of the woods. As the report states and I quote, for the first time in recent years the current and primary balances were in surplus. The overall fiscal deficit is said for the first time in recent years the current and primary balances were in surplus. The overall fiscal deficit is estimated to have tempered to EC minus 78.3 million minus 1.2% of GDP from eastern Caribbean currency dollars of minus 288.6 million or minus 5.6% of GDP in the prior fiscal year. Moreover, the report indicates and that's from page 10 to page 11, I quote. In fiscal year 2023-2024 the primary balance is budgeted to be a surplus of EC 102.9 million compared to a surplus of EC 105.7 million in the fiscal year 2022-2023. The overall fiscal deficit is projected to increase 39.3% to EC 109.1 million minus 1.6% of GDP compared to overall fiscal deficit of the minus 78.3 million or the minus 1.2% of GDP. Now, once it's below 3% is considered to be within prudential limits. But what is important Mr. Speaker, despite that deterioration, it is to be noted that this fiscal ratios as a whole indicate positive development despite the slight decline in the primary surplus and the slight increase in the overall deficit. Government has also introduced a new health and security levy to help strengthen the fiscal position. That's what it is all about. It is not just something that we just grabbed from somewhere and introduced. It is in keeping with sound management of the economy. So, don't walk inside of air and try to mislead the people of this country to be living that you know you are managing an economy better than the member for caste disease. The member for caste disease I have stated many times is a magician in terms of how he deals with the business of this country and just watch him. Try to learn from him. Take your exercise book and come and take notes. And if you want to engage in a debate, come. There's nothing wrong with an exchange of intellectual ideas. There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong in allowing the arguments to contain whether come and dismiss what is going on there as mismanagement and what you are doing there. You know, as some things that were so good that destroyed the economy and put our country into a recession prior to COVID. Finally, the public debt to GDP ratio has continued on a downward trajectory declining from 69.1% in 2022 to a forecasted 65.2% in 2023. It is to be further noted Mr. Deputy Speaker that the government has passed the Public Debt Management Act which imposes requirements on the government to pursue a sustainable fiscal path. So that debt management act gives the government clear directives to pursue a sustainable fiscal path. It is the government's view that all of this positive fiscal developments merit and upgrade in the credit rating to fiscal policy from BB below average to adequate BBB. And don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. You know, our small, open and vulnerable economies, they do not have vast amount of resources. We are not immune to the effects of the external environment and we are not immune to the consequences of our actions, the way that we manage things and the way we respond to it. Whilst we are not responsible for the external shocks, we are responsible for how we respond to it. And the member for CASIS is doing a job that is the envy of a number of countries. And as I take this to its logical conclusion, I want to deal with monetary, financial and exchange rate policies adequate. The government generally concurs with this assessment by Carrie Chris. And the external sector BBB adequate, the government again concurs with it. Political environment adequate. We note the following in the Carrie Chris report, it's on page 17. And I quote, St Lucia is a stable parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The House of Assembly has 17 members, has 17 members, currently 14 members belong to the SLP. The SLP currently has sufficient control to carry out its political vision. St Lucia's judicial system is independent and well regarded. St Lucia is perceived internationally to have moderately low corruption based on its core on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. The country was ranked 45 out of 180 countries in 2022. The fourth best ranked country in the Caribbean. The one concern that was highlighted, that general area in the report is the level of crime which has been on the increase. It is to be noted that while the government is extremely concerned with the level of crime and it is taking measures to reduce the level of crime, we believe that given the fact that we are not dealing with a widely systemic issue, that our interventions will be effective over time to create a scenario where it does not present a political risk. You see, when you put policies in place, it's like gravity acting against whatever is increasing. So you take a stone and you project a stone vertically upward if a certain velocity. As gravity is acting upon that stone, it will decelerate until its final velocity gets to zero. It will be momentarily at rest and it's going to come back down. So when you put policies in place, you do not immediately pull it down. It will decelerate and we are going to see a deceleration in that regard and eventually that level of criminal activity will drop. And we must avoid by whatever means necessary within the parameters of the law and democracy to ensure that crime in no way gets out of control. So you know Mr. Deputy Speaker, I close by indicating that I fully support the motion. I think it is good. I commend the Prime Minister for his expert handling of the economy. And there is no doubt in my mind that St. Lucian's are looking forward to a bright future. And I am fully convinced, barring a Black Swan event, we are going to climb like a homesick angel in terms of the economy, infrastructure at the end of our term. And like I said, completing St. Jude's is no longer any kind of debate. It's a foregone conclusion that the St. Jude's Hospital project will come to its logical conclusion way before the general election. I have no doubt about that. What we are concerned about is improving the overall level of health care in this country to benefit every cent. So I commend the Minister for education. I'm happy to hear OJ combined is on the list. I did not hear Bansalagwas yet. I'm not heard Labry Boys yet. And of course, I want some consideration to the ABC Funhouse next to the OJ combined school. And of course they are working very hard. They are working very, very hard there, Mr. Minister of Education. And of course, I'm hoping that somewhere you can find some space to deal with the roof as well. They have a roof problem, both the OJ combined school and that ABC Funhouse, termite infested. We need some meaningful intervention. So again, I commend the Prime Minister and the Minister for education for a good show. I thank you, Mr. Deputy Minister.