 Good morning to members of the media. Thank you so much for attending in such large numbers this morning. I am Nicole McDonnell, the Senior Communications Officer for the Government. This press conference this morning is related to a joint report between the Caribbean Development Bank and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank on Saint Lucia's economy. Today, we have with us the Honourable Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Honourable Dr. Yubaldis Raymond, the Director of Economics for the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr. Justin Rahm. Thank you guys for being with us this morning. We will start by taking statements from both gentlemen. We will start with Dr. Raymond, followed by Dr. Rahm, who will be delivering a presentation this morning. I now introduce you to the Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Yubaldis Raymond to make an opening statement. Good day and welcome to the members of the media. I wish to also officially welcome Dr. Justin Rahm, Director of Economics with the Caribbean Development Bank. The purpose of this press conference today is to inform the media and the public of the latest developments regarding the Government's thrust towards a comprehensive economic agenda for Saint Lucia. Part of that agenda to stimulate economic growth and development involved the commissioning of a report from the CDB in collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. These two agencies were also assisted by the staff of the Research and Policy Unit within the Ministry of Finance, the In and Revenue Department, and the Customs Department. The Government of Saint Lucia received the Caribbean Development Bank report titled Fiscal and Structural Reforms in Saint Lucia Towards a Comprehensive Agenda. And a presentation was made to the Ministry of Finance yesterday. Before we get to what is contained in the reports, I want to put into perspective the rationale behind this document as it pertains to the overall economic vision this new administration has for Saint Lucia. In order to rule out our overall economic vision, we needed to ensure that we had provided the best solutions to put us on the path to success. The objective was to ensure or secure a diagnosis of the state of the economy. We needed to understand where we are and what we were dealing with before all our various tax proposals could be fully implemented. In the interim, we executed a large percentage of five to stay alive, namely the reduction in the increase of the vehicle license fees and the increase in the school transportation and school feeding programs. The amnesty on personal property tax will commence in January 2017 and the reduction in value added tax will be announced in October of this year. I must stress that five to stay alive, although expected to be effective, is part of our comprehensive restructuring of the tax system, which is the purpose of this broad detailed consultation. The economic plan for Saint Lucia proposed by this government hinges on three major policy directions. One, reducing cost of living. Two, spurring economic growth and three, curtailing on the high level of debt. The government's aim is to ensure that we do not place undue burden on public finances and that we address our current debt situation. The CDB report is a guide on the path to achieving those goals. So what does the report tell us? I will leave this or leave it to Dr. Ram to put into perspective. However, a glaring observation in the report is that notwithstanding the recent improvements in the fiscal performance, without certain adjustments, public finances remain on an unsustainable path. The report states in the last decade, the last decade average growth in the economy of Saint Lucia was 0.9%. Over the last five years, the performance of Saint Lucia's economy has been generally weak, with real outputs averaging negative 0.4%. Provisional estimates for 2015 show growth of 1.2%, and preliminary forecasts for 2016 indicate growth of approximately 1.1%. The CDB also utilised various scenarios in order to weigh the effects of tax adjustments on the economy. In the conclusion of the report, the CDB also notes that initial assessment of the fiscal situation shows that there is tremendous scope for improvement. With respect to the debt situation, the report warns that risks abound and with the high concentration of short-term debt. As a government, we are still in the process of reviewing this report and I know the media is eager to know the findings as well. However, this report is not the end of our consultation. Our information gathering continues as we await a further report on the economy and tax reforms from Ernst and Young. I want to assure Saint Lucia that the government is committed to its promises on the economy and in realising the reduction in the cost of living for all our citizens. The consultation is necessary and forms the foundation for our comprehensive growth strategy. Thank you. I now turn you over to Dr. Ram. Who will give you or give a synopsis of the report and make further statements on the fiscal and structural reforms proposed for Saint Lucia? Good morning and thank you very much Minister Rehman. Good morning, moderator Ms. McLeod. Good morning, members of the media. Good morning to Saint Lucia who may be looking at us at this point in time. I want to say first of all that it is with great pride and pleasure that the Caribbean Development Bank is in Saint Lucia at this point in time and providing assistance to the government of Saint Lucia as they seek to chart a path towards fiscal sustainability and also sustainable growth rates into the future. The Caribbean Development Bank along with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank was tasked with this project to look at what the fiscal accounts are currently like now in Saint Lucia as well as to also come up with some possible ways forward to the government of Saint Lucia as they chart the sustainable path for the Saint Lucia economy. So currently I have a presentation here on our document and it's called fiscal and structural reforms in Saint Lucia Towards a Comprehensive Agenda. As Minister Rehman mentioned in his opening remarks we gave this presentation to the Ministry of Finance yesterday and it is therefore a great pleasure that I now give a presentation to the public. So let me just first of all give you a bit of background as to what and why we have undertaken this particular project for the government of Saint Lucia. I should emphasize here that Saint Lucia like many of the other Caribbean countries and I should say that the Caribbean Development Bank has 19 borne member countries within the Caribbean so that like those other 19 borne member countries or 18 borne member countries, Saint Lucia also exhibits some of the same problems that we see across the region and that is the economy is characterized by low growth reflecting a high concentration in exports as well as very high and growing indebtedness. Now as I said earlier the government of Saint Lucia has articulated a desire to reverse these trends and therefore the CDB was requested to assess the current situation and make recommendations going forward. These charts that I put up here on the screen shows what has been happening within the Caribbean region with respect to gross domestic product real growth rates. The dotted line there shows the Caribbean Development Banks borne member countries and from what you can see there against other comparator regions, Caribbean countries have not been performing very well and so it is very important for us to make this point that Saint Lucia being part of this grouping is also a reflection of deeper structural issues that we find in most Caribbean economies at this point in time. The chart on the right shows the debt-to-GDP ratio of some of our borne member countries at the end of 2015 and as you can see here the Caribbean has some of the most highly indebted nations in the world. At this point in time at the end of 2015 the debt-to-GDP ratio in Saint Lucia as we had estimated was around 75% of gross domestic product. So what's the current state of play? Our analysis has shown that notwithstanding a pickup recently in growth, public finances are on an unsustainable path here in Saint Lucia. There's also a high average cost of borrowing with respect to government debt and we have found this to be about 6% compared to the slow growth of less than 1% in the past 10 years. We have also found that when we look further at the fiscal accounts that there are inadequate primary balances and so without the sufficient primary balances it's very difficult for any government to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio down to a manageable level. Now we should emphasize here that generally we say that if your debt-to-GDP ratio is in excess of 60% of gross domestic product we do believe that that is trending towards an unsustainable debt trajectory. So overall the result in Saint Lucia over the last few years has been a considerable buildup in the debt stock. So that if we project these numbers going forward and this is to say if there's a business as usual scenario if there are no mitigating measures put in place then we see the debt-to-GDP ratio in Saint Lucia by 2030 rising well above 110% of gross domestic product and we think that once the debt-to-GDP ratio attains such levels it becomes even much more difficult for any government to bring the fiscal accounts into some level of equilibrium. So what is required here? We think certainly that the government of Saint Lucia needs to look at fiscal consolidation and this will involve looking at revenue reforms that improve efficiency and collections, public financial management reforms that improve planning and budget management as well as structural reforms to improve competitiveness and increase growth. And there should also be a focus on transformative infrastructure projects along with strategic liability management aimed at containing the costs of debt. Like I mentioned before the effective interest rate currently on Saint Lucia debt is around 6% which is quite high for any government to maintain and so we really need to look at some mechanism that can bring that cost of debt down over the short to medium term. So what are some of the revenue reforms that we have tried to articulate to the government of Saint Lucia? The first of this is omnibus incentives legislation to make the process transparent and uniform. So you really want to take discretion out of policymaking so that any investor coming to Saint Lucia know that they are playing on a level playing field. Reduce the list of vat exempt and zero-rated goods. Complete the restructuring of the Inland Revenue Department and that schedule to be completed by June 2017 and we want to commend the government of Saint Lucia for pushing ahead with this initiative. We also think that it's important to conduct a geomapping exercise to support property tax reform followed by a revaluation exercise. What are some of the reforms that we consider necessary with respect to public financial management? We think that it's important for improved planning process to include a 15 to 20 year vision as a platform for a three to five year medium term development plan and annual budgets. So it's really important for the people and the government of Saint Lucia at this point in time to set out quite clearly what is a vision for the economy as well as for the society. Where do you want to see Saint Lucia in 15 to 20 years time? Once you have that overall vision in mind then it becomes quite easy for you to develop medium term development plans that are about three to five years to help you attain that vision over the long term. So we think at this point in time this is critical that the people and government of Saint Lucia put in place a vision for Saint Lucia. There should also be the implementation of a fiscal responsibility framework that is to say have primary balance or a debt anchor. It's important that, and we have been advocating this across the Caribbean, that governments should ensure that the fiscal accounts are always within some type of equilibrium, that particular thresholds are not overextended or are not passed. It's particularly important for the government to consider this in their current planning exercise. And thirdly, to strengthen the management frameworks for state-owned enterprises. Across the region and in Saint Lucia we have found that the incidence of transfers and subsidies to be too high and there really needs to be some examination of how state-owned enterprises are managed and that in effect must also consider the possible utilization of private resources in the management of these particular enterprises. So structural reforms that we have indicated that could be necessary include the improvement in the doing business environment, including through a review of the institutional and operational arrangements at the port. So that's the port here in Castries. You want to ensure that it is very efficient and at least cost as possible to exporters as well as to importers to get goods and services out of Saint Lucia. As well as for anyone who has to import items into Saint Lucia that there are no delays at the port. So the efficiency of the port is particularly important when we consider the overall competitiveness of an economy. Once we want to encourage the government of Saint Lucia to look at reforms at the port. The passage of insolvency legislation is another area that we think is important and improve property registration by implementing an electronic platform for this so that we remove some of the bureaucratic impediments to setting up businesses. You really want to encourage an entrepreneurial type environment in Saint Lucia as we go forward. So what's the policy scenario of this active policy reforms with adjustment? Where would this take the trajectory of debt over the medium to long term? We have looked at a number of policies that I have mentioned before. What that could mean for the overall debt-to-GDP ratio as well as for the growth rate of the Saint Lucia economy. And we have found that if the government of Saint Lucia was to implement some of these adjustment policies that instead of having us on the trajectory, as I showed the business as usual trajectory, the red line indicated here on the chart, we find that along with improving growth, along with improving the unemployment rates within Saint Lucia, we can also set the fiscal accounts on a sustainable path and get us to 60% debt-to-GDP ratio by 2030, which is the overall stated objective within the Eastern Caribbean currency union. So the Council of Ministers have indicated that this is where they would like all debt-to-GDP ratios within the ECCC region to be by 2030. And we think that government of Saint Lucia can implement sufficient reforms that will put the economy on a sustainable path with respect to growth, but also get the debt-to-GDP ratio down to a manageable level in that timeframe. So what are the next steps that we have identified coming out of this report? It's very important at this point in time that the government of Saint Lucia lead the formulation of a comprehensive homegrown adjustment program with support from, I should say, the Caribbean Development Bank and perhaps the wider donor community as deemed feasible. And this means as, and I would like to re-emphasize and reiterate what Minister Raymond said earlier, that this is really part of a collaboration and really part of a wider consultation, which along with the visioning exercise that I mentioned earlier, should now look at what is the comprehensive reforms that are required to get us onto that sustainable path. This will ensure that there will be economic and fiscal sustainability and it could possibly unlock much needed concessional resources which could be used for inter-alier budget support here in Saint Lucia. Remember earlier I said that currently the interest on debt within Saint Lucia, the effective interest rate is about 6%. We think that with these necessary reforms, Saint Lucia could have access to many more concessional financing that could allow us to bring that effective interest rate down thereby reducing the burden of debt on the government of Saint Lucia and the people of Saint Lucia. Now CDB, we are already providing some support to the government in the area of strategic planning, helping the government think through this particular exercise. We have done this in a number of our borne member countries with considerable success and we look forward to doing the same here in Saint Lucia. Before I finish, I just want to reiterate the Caribbean Development Bank's support for the people and government of Saint Lucia at this point in time. We are here to help. We see a lot of potential here in Saint Lucia and we think that if the right reforms are put in place that the future for Saint Lucia looks very bright. It really is one of the islands that we look on very favorably and we want to ensure that Saint Lucia is on a sustainable path with respect to its economic growth, social sustainability as well as on its fiscal accounts. So I want to thank you very much and I guess now the moderator. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Ham. Thank you very much for that review, basic review of the report. Thank you Dr. Raymond for your opening statement. Now that you've gotten an idea of what the report contains I invite questions from the media. Okay we'll start with Miguel from HTS. Just introduce yourself. Miguel, favorite HTS news was I actually have three questions. Am I alone? That's okay Miguel. Okay. The first one though you said that this has been trending this has been trending for probably about a decade right? So if the government our government or the governments in the region supposedly surround themselves with competent economists why has there been such a sustainable trend as you put it for over a decade? Is it that the government the policy makers themselves, the politicians repeated ignore technical advice and make decisions based on political expediency? Is this a common case around the region? Number two, one of your recommendations I think was it correct me if I'm wrong a decrease in the number of zero rated items. Would this compliment would this be complimented by a reduction in the value added tax or is a reduction in the value added tax recommended? Because basically I'll take from you saying a decrease in the number of zero rated items means an increase in revenue for us from that. So would you recommend a reduction in that? Well just before you get to your third question actually let him answer because they will send out long questions. So we have seen over the last decade or so perhaps even before this there has been a real problem with overall competitiveness within many of our foreign member countries as I mentioned earlier that's because there's a real concentration with respect to exports and most of our countries we find that the main exporter is tourism. And this of course is a sector that is very much susceptible to vagaries in the international global economy. So that it becomes very difficult to weather any global economic storm when you are so concentrated in one sector. So it's not necessarily a reflection of perhaps bad government policies but really the structure of our economies at this point in time. So what we are advocating for here is that the government of St. Lucia along with some of our other foreign member countries think about a comprehensive list of reforms that will ensure that these economies can be fully diversified so that when and it's not a matter of if but when the economic storms come our economies are in a much better place to weather those storms. Now having the ability to weather those storms means that your fiscal accounts will also be on a much more sustainable path because rather than being dependent on one or two sectors primarily for revenues the fiscal accounts are now much more diversified with respect to revenue collection and ensures that when the economic storms come that fiscal accounts do not also go into negative territory but it also means as well that governments must think considerably about where they are spending taxpayers' money. It should be spent efficiently and if it is to help individuals it should be spent on those individuals who need it the most. So it really has to be targeted as well. So what we're advocating here is that really it's time for the people and government of Sindhu should come up with a vision. Where do you want to see your country in 15 or 20 years time? What's that vision that you want and I'm sure for most people you want to see high levels of employment so you want to see most people in well-paid well-played employment earning their way and that is also good for the government as well because once people are working they are paying their taxes as well. It means that the government then has the resources to provide the necessary public services that I'm sure within that vision you as the people of Sindhu would want as well. That means good healthcare, good education well-maintained infrastructure including roads. You know having a good link between the north of the island to the south of the island. If we have more people working then it also has greater resources through increased revenues to pay for some of these. But I also want to emphasize as well that now is a time for us to consider not only in Sindhu but also in the region about how we can encourage the private sector to get more involved in the economy. Yes and that involves public-private partnerships which we normally term as the triple P's. How can we encourage the private sector to invest in our economy? So it's all about looking at that business environment to ensure that we have an environment that is attractive to investors both domestic investors as well as foreign investors as well. The increase in the number of zero-rated items would this be complementary to a reduction in battle? Would you not recommend a reduction in the rate of 50% as it is right now? What we have identified is that there are a number of items that are now exempt from value-added tax and we are saying that perhaps those list of exemptions should be reduced. With respect to a reduction in the value-added tax that is a matter for the government of Sindhu to decide and I'm sure that that will happen through further consultation with the people of Sindhu. For years we've been hearing that our public sector wage bill represents a huge chunk of our expenditure or the expenditure. What would you recommend in that respect? Do we see a situation like Bombay that's where we have a number of public servants laid off or how do we realistically address this situation? Well yes the public sector wage bill as it currently stands does consume quite a lot of government expenditure and the government might need to look at ways in which to make the public service a lot more efficient. It is not necessarily a case of reducing the wage bill but ensuring that you can get more productivity out of the public sector so that whatever you're putting it in terms of your wages and salaries you ensure that that is matched by increases in productivity as well. I want to emphasize here that the public sector is a very important aspect of the economy. The public sector really in what we see as how it should work properly provides the enabling environment for the private sector. So the public sector is working well, is efficient, productive, you're going to see a transformation in your economy as well. So really at this point in time there has to be a dialogue as to how you improve productivity in the public sector how you make it a lot more efficient and that is a much broader discussion so that people can understand that if the public sector is productive and efficient your overall economy will be more efficient and productive as well and provide that enabling environment for the private sector. So that's how I think we want to frame this discussion. Can we have another question? General Novel Choice TV correct me if I'm wrong but I'm noticing the number of the series recommendations both in the opposite direction of what the government had promised the people of St. Lucia such as they said that we should reduce the number of fact exempt product and the government is looking to move that eventually all together as well as the subsidies they mentioned that they are too high and the government recently increased the number of subsidies on transport and the school feeding program. So I'm just wondering if these recommendations would affect the government's decisions or promises going forward. Well these are just recommendations made by the CDB and of course this is part of the whole consultation. When we come to when the point when the time comes for us to decide exactly what we're going to do we're going to look at all the information that is provided to the government through the consultation. Let me just ask Dr. Raymond or Dr. Ram can you speak about the contribution that value added tax now makes to the economy and maybe if you had a chance to review our collections agencies and how things are going there can you speak a little bit about that? Well there is great potential for a revenue increase in St. Lucia and with my consultation with within the Ministry of Finance particularly that of the customs department and the inner revenue department there's lots of money out there but we just have to be more efficient in the collection and even the type of tax that we intend we decide to implement or to go with we have to ensure that it is an efficient tax system or efficient tax. The VAT is supposed to be one when VAT was being sold to the public we said it was a broad based tax it was an efficient tax but the question is the current model is it really efficient with all the exemptions with zero rated items? Is it really? So this is what the government will be looking into if we intend, if we decide we will for sure be reducing the VAT but we will look at the efficiency of it and try to improve the efficiency in terms of collections. We have another question Yes two questions well more like three questions so far as the board members taking a close look a scrutinizing look at the Ministry of Economic Development and the plans they have laid out so far are they feasible? What are your general opinions of the plans if you have taken a look at them and is it something that the board members would be doing as looking at each ministry based on the revenue intake there anticipating throughout their five years in government also your opinion as well what should be the main focus what should concentrate on know that they are new in the government would it be, I know you mentioned tourism we should probably try and diversify but if there is one part of the economy that they should focus on primarily thanks Well the question is for you but I can answer also I'll answer the second one The government is looking at a comprehensive reform because we believe every sector every pillar is important for economic growth and development so it's a broad based comprehensive approach in our development we are very very concerned about the debt level in this country because when you have high debt you need money to pay of your debt so what the government tends to do is to increase taxes and when we increase taxes it has some kind of negative impact or implication in terms of investment because when you increase your taxes it means that you increase your borrowing it increase the risk involved in investment in the country so it shies away for an investment and this is something we really did in this country so we are keen in ensuring that we have a more less I would say complete well let's put it this way we are trying to keep the borrowing on a sustainable path not an unsustainable path and that's why we have engaged in discussions with well I have engaged the ministry of finance more specifically the debt management unit in trying to see how we can re-profile our debt stock what do I mean by that currently almost half of our debt stock is actually short term debt 1.5 billion dollars and the seriousness of this is that we have almost like $337 million in a roll over every year we are paying $180 million a year in interest rates alone so we are looking at the serious debt problem we have in St. Lucia and we are trying to see how best we can reverse that trend of course employment is a very serious problem we have and that's the reason why you have our prime minister is busy trying to see how best he can bring in investors in this country because we are relying a lot on foreign direct investment which has been almost zero close to zero in the last four and a half years so we are trying to see how best we can boost the economy for foreign direct investment we also see consumption as a key factor in promoting economic growth if there is too much taxation or high taxes in the country it will lead to low consumption or lower consumption and that's the reason why we have undertaken the fight to stay alive and this is one part of the many reforms that we have undertaken to see how we can reduce the cost of living in this country because we believe that if you reduce the cost of living there is the potential of increasing consumption and by extension economic activity and by extension economic growth in the country so it's not just one area we are focusing on it's a broad area and of course of the economic sector but there are also some social things so we are also focusing on the social sector the judicial reform so there are lots of stuff we are doing and my government is busy at that Doctor Ram will take the second question from the start just to also support what Minister Raymond says that yes there needs to be fiscal consolidation to ensure that the debt profile of Sinusha is on a sustainable trajectory but we also want to emphasize like I mentioned before that the focus of the government should also be on growth enhancing reforms I always make the point here that there was a quote by a famous economist that says that once you think about the welfare possibilities associated with growth then there is it's the only thing that you would be thinking about for a very long time with high levels of growth it means that as Minister Raymond says you can bring down that very high level of unemployment so that you have this excess capacity in the economy that now starts to move and starts to provide productive activity provides greater levels of consumption in turn provides the government with even more revenues to undertake much more of the type of expenditure that the people of Sinusha really deem important so we really want to emphasize that the reforms that will allow the business community to thrive are very very important so that the private sector really needs to become the engine of growth here so what the government puts in place how it restructures perhaps port operations the type of legislation that it implements to ensure that there is a level playing feel for investors will become very very important in helping attain a sustainable level of growth now what is a sustainable level of growth certainly we think that the government needs to be shooting for growth rates that are certainly in excess of where they are now if you want to make a meaningful dent in the high level of unemployment and to also improve overall levels of poverty within Sinusha so that I think really needs to be the focus focus on reforms that will improve the level of growth over the medium term and that in turn would also help with the fiscal consolidation that we think is very important for the government of Sinusha to focus on at this point in time I think we have another question from Miguel Yes Dr. Raymond I think in 2012 had the 34th meeting of the council for trade and economic development they asked a request was made by Sinusha for a suspension of the CET on pharmaceuticals I think that has been reduced as I think it is that has expired in April a 10% reduction I am aware that as of yesterday it has returned to what it originally obtained prior to this what's next first are we going to be requesting for the reduction of the CET Well who was the one I wasn't to show who was the one who made the request for the reduction can you enlighten me on that one Well it was Sinusha we made that request in 2012 in the finance where the representatives of the co-FC that would be most probably Dr. Anthony absolutely are you aware that it has expired I am not aware of it but in that case though we have had a lot of talk I think when your party was in opposition there was a lot of pressure put for the removal of the value and the value of the medication Obviously you wanted cheaper for the people be looking at maybe asking for again for this for this reduction of the CET as it relates to pharmaceuticals? Well this will be a discussion we must we will have in cabinet for sure and we are quite aware of the high cost of health care in this country so of course we may most likely give consideration to keeping it. Okay do we have any more questions from the media? Okay I would like to just let everybody know that this report we are planning to make it available so you can go through it yourself and any additional questions or concerns you might have we wanted to be open for this discussion we want to create a debate in the country on what is happening and make sure that solutions are involved in the process so I will ask since we have no more questions Dr. Raymond to make a final statement followed by Dr. Rahm. Yes media thank you for coming again the government is very serious about growing this country I mean growing the economy and we believe that we should not be doing it alone we should be able we should be become in consultation with the the public in moving forward to where we have to go so we want to be very open very transparent in achieving the various objectives economic social and economic objectives that we have for for the country and that's the reason why we we we want to be very open very transparent we wanted to be a more a work within collaboration with the public we don't want to be operating from from from our offices we want to come to the public to inform the public as to what we are doing and how we are doing it it's it's it's something that although the public the government or the public rather for the people of St. Lucia elected this government to run the affairs of this country but we believe that the public is also important in in building the country with us and this is just part of just once that this is a spot or the beginning of the process of of engaging the public in in in in moving forward with the development goals of St. Lucia I want to thank the CDB for the work they have done so far I must say to you that the the report is in a draft form and I was informed by the by dr. Ram that the the report will be available maybe in about a week or two in its completed form so public be there with us we will be providing you with the the copy of the reports in about two weeks time we are trying to increase the level of this the level of this course in this country as far as developing the economy is concerned I personally believe that the the level of discussion is very low the quality of discussion is very low so it is the intent of the government to to provide the information and and when the information is provided I'm hoping that we'll have some some heightened quality of of discussion by the public as far as the development of this country is concerned so this is just the beginning thank you dr. okay well I want to say thank you very much to minister Raymond and the government of St. Lucia for the opportunity given to the Caribbean Development Bank as well as the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in working on this particular initiative with you we think that it it it all goes well when a born member country comes to us and and asks for assistance and I just want to reiterate that we stand willing and and ready to assist further we will be assisting of course with the development of a vision and and and a medium term development planning strategy for the government but we also are here to provide any type of assistance that the government wants we should say as well that you know St. Lucia is part of the Caribbean community and looking at many of these issues really requires a regional perspective as well and I think that the current government of St. Lucia we are very much delighted to see that regional perspective being being being echoed in my presentation I said that there is a problem of low growth and high debt across the region and really we can tackle this best through well thought out domestic policies but also well thought out regional policies as well and so I'm very very pleased that the government of St. Lucia came to the Caribbean Development Bank to ask for assistance thereby we can impart to you the knowledge that we have gained from around the region and internationally as well to help you build a sustainable economy so just to say thank you very much we do see great opportunities for St. Lucia and we really want to ensure that those opportunities are materialized yes over the medium to long term I really want to say that in a few years time I want to be shouting praises about St. Lucia and I think that that's certainly is possible if the right reforms are put in place and and and and we can see this economy on a sustainable part over the long term so thank you very much for the opportunity thank you thank you appreciate it thank you Dr. Ram thank you Dr. Raymond let me just go over we've been talking today to the director of economics for the Caribbean Development Bank Dr. Justin Ram and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Dr. Ubalas Raymond I want to thank the members of the media for attending today and for your great questions as indicated the report will be made available in two weeks a few weeks and it will be available on the government information services website so we will keep you posted on that thank you everybody