INSIDE GRENADA DECEMBER 21, 2007 from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) • The current challenge facing our country today is how to reinvigorate and sustain economic growth while reducing high unemployment and poverty rates, restoring fiscal balance and debt sustainability and securing a more sustainable external position in an increasing competitive global environment. • Meeting this challenge will require that we strengthen our performance in the global economy which, in turn will require that we improve our competitiveness • Since the 1990’s, our key merchandise exports - both agricultural and manufacturing have contracted or seen only marginal growth. • Over the past fifteen years, there has been no significant qualitative change in the structure of government revenues, or in the structure of the economy as a whole. • Our government has relied on an administratively cumbersome and non-transparent system of duty concessions that has had no measurable positive impact on the export sector and has negatively affected fiscal performance. • Accordingly, we face the same pressures in financing our bludgeoning debt and in providing the social goods and services required by our citizens. • We have remained an ailing economy propped up and sustained by remittances and heavy external borrowing. • Moreover, little headway has been made in improving the general enabling environment for the growth and development of business. This has resulted in a general slowdown of private investment. • Grenada appears to have reached the limits of growth under the current model of development. • We must construct a New Economy. • The New Economy for Grenada of which we speak is an economy that not only strengthens and consolidates the traditional economy, but which produces and delivers new and improved goods and services; utilizing new production and service delivery systems,methods and techniques; generating new sources of income and employment levels, based on the most competitive levels of knowledge skill and productivity in our labour force. • It should be said that this construct of a new economy would fully embrace Carriacou and Petite Martinique which for all intents and purposes do not have an economy and have been treated as only entitled to the occasional patching of the roads. • We must leverage our geographical location, rich soil, our command of the English language, our alluring beauty and rich culture to create new hope and opportunities for our people. It is only by so doing, that we shall genuinely be able to modernize our economy and society, finance our development and bring Grenada into the international economy. • Building this NEW ECONOMY is not going to be easy. It is not going to be a quick fix for the many problems and challenges that we shall inherit upon forming the new government. It will test the vision and leadership of our party and government in a manner quite unlike erecting that shrine-like structure at Queen’s Park. • The creation of THE NEW ECONOMY will be driven by creativity and innovation and applied to: _ High–end Tourism products (adventure tourism, nature-based tourism,cultural, meetings and conferences and community tourism) _ High value agriculture (including food industry, agro-processing, confectionary etc.) _ Cosmetics _ Offshore financial services _ Offshore Medical Health and wellness services _ Cultural products & Entertainment _ Art, painting and photography _ ICT services & ICT-enabled products and services _ The fashion industry _ Music industry _ Other services • To achieve this would require embarking on a strategy to achieve sustained poverty reduction growth with improved labor productivity and increased output diversification. • This, would require that the following measures, among others, be undertaken: _ Improving the macro economic stability thru improving primary surpluses,improving expenditure management, reducing public debt relative to GDP, prioritization and increased efficiency of public investment. _ Redefining the role of the public sector including seeking greater cost efficiencies in key government expenditures. _ Improving the investment climate for private sector driven growth. _ Implementation of the National Export strategy _ Enhancing the quality and effectiveness of human resources and enabling knowledge–based growth _ Obtaining access to capital _ Developing a sound energy policy • The basic framework within which this initiative is being presented was already set out in the major policy pronouncement delivered by the Hon. Tillman Thomas, Political Leader of The NDC on October 13, 2007.