The Ministry of Finance has been tasked with organizing a public education
campaign on the measures that will be implemented to close the government’s
revenue gap.
The campaign is expected to be completed before the Budget Presentation by
Prime Minister Gaston Browne on 15 th December 2023.
Extensive discussions were held during Wednesday’s meeting of the Cabinet
involving key government agencies to increase revenue, which currently stands at
15 percent to 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Several suggestions have been tabled, including the increase of the Antigua and
Barbuda Sales Tax from 15 percent to 17 percent.
A final decision is yet to be made on the proposed increase. However, from all
indications, it does seem likely.
Information Minister Melford Nicholas explained that all measures will not be
implemented at the same time.
“The Ministry of Finance officials have been asked to look at a phased
implementation of these measures and more will come over the next two weeks as
they look at the modalities of doing this and as they insert feedback into the
process where the prime minister will make the full budget presentation. We are
still looking at that and we spent some time looking at what impact this may have
on inflation as we know this is a concern,” he remarked.
With consideration being given to the effects the planned measures will have on
residents, Nicholas reiterated the government's position that provisions are in place
to cushion the impact on the poor and vulnerable.
“We do anticipate that there will be little or no impact on the cost of basic food
items as indicated by the prime minister in the Q&A session of parliament this
week, where he indicated that the government is going to protect the poor and
vulnerable and that those items that are zero-rated …recalling that these items were
expanded during the pandemic when the government was unable to meet some of
its expenses… we sought to protect that segment of the society. You will recall we
had certain initiatives in place, for example, when there was an increase in the cost
of fuel, we cushioned the impact of that and allowed for a voucher system, to
ensure that those providing public transportation didn’t have any costs that they
could pass on to consumers. We intend to do the same thing here with respect to
the cost of basic food items and medicines,” he stated.
The proposed public education campaign is to be spearheaded by the Financial
Secretary, Rasona Davis-Crump, who will lead the public discussion on the
implications of the tax measures.
