ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, Jul 9, CMC – Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell Tuesday said he remains “unapologetic” towards providing all the assistance his administration could muster with respect to the sister islands of Carriacou and Peter Martinique as the country continues to grapple with the financial aspect of the passage of Hurricane Beryl last week.
Speaking at a news conference, Mitchell said that the government is appreciative of the efforts shown by regional and international governments as well as regional and financial institutions and organisations in dealing with the devastation caused by the hurricane when it swept through the Windward Island last Monday leaving a trail of death and destruction.
“There is no doubt that this disaster will have a major impact n the fiscal and financial and economic situation of Grenada. We are talking of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild. Watch video
“This is going to be a long and difficult situation. We are exploring all options as to how we will finance the clean up, the relief efforts and the rebuilding,” Mitchell said, adding “we need to emphasise very early that the rebuilding must have resilience factored into it”.
He said the Ministry of Finance is meeting this week with “some of our international and regional partners, including the Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank, the IMF and we are also assessing whether we would need to suspend the operation of the Fiscal Resilience Act”
The government has repealed the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2015) replacing it with the Fiscal Resilience Act (2023). it is described as a more simplified and less rigid legislation allowing for greater flexibility for the government to manage the economy and implement its transformation agenda.
Mitchell also said the government would be “looking at what fiscal incentives the government will provide to persons who wish to rebuild, repair their homes, or persons who simply need food stuff or other amenities to continue living”.
He said that his government anticipates that further announcements will be made later this week or early next week regarding the financial situation confronting Grenada.
He said that the government has in place catastrophic risk insurance which has been triggered and representatives of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) will be on island later this week “and we expect announcements will be made in relation to what compensation will Grenada will be paid as a result of the passage of Hurricane Beryl”.
“We cannot repair and build new or repair old buildings without ensuring that we comply with strict building codes that allows us to mininise losses arising from these hurricanes. We also need to appreciate that the hurricanes are not going away”.
He said that all indications are that the hurricanes will become stronger and more frequent and a real risk of them happening early in the hurricane season that runs from June to November.
“So part of our financing and recovery efforts must focus on ensuring that we build resilient infrastructure and that we build resilient homes and other buildings to withstand not just hurricanes or the other challenges that we face in this part of the world”.
Mitchell said the update on the financial situation next week will include the sources of funding for the relief and rebuilding, “what policy initiatives the government intends to take in terns of our existing debt obligations, including whether we will seek cancellations, write-offs, debt referrals or debt restructuring”.
He said the update would also entail what would be Grenada’s relations with the World Bank and the IMF as well as “providing an update on grant financing and assistance we have received so far …and we will also provide an update on the actual damage assessment and impact”.
He said while the government is already considering what fiscal incentives to nationals to help them recover from the hurricane, he wanted to re-emphasise “that we will not tolerate persons who are not impacted and gaining by scheming or taking advantage of the fiscal incentives that the government will announce”.
Download video – Grenada PM Dickon Mitchell
CMC/pr/ir/2024