Hon. Skerrit was speaking to the media on Monday 7th July.
“How do we finance this at a time when every single country in the world has been experiencing economic challenges since 2008, and there are countries which have been better off than us who are sending people home and are proposing salary cuts?” the Prime Minister questioned.
The answer to this, according to Hon. Skerrit, “We have to look at our requests and demands in the context of how much we think the State can afford and how much we think we ourselves can pay.”
The nation’s Finance Minister asked Dominicans whether they are willing to pay for the eventual cost of pay raises.
“[We live in] an economic environment when St. Lucia is saying we are going to cut salaries by 5%, Grenada is turning to an IMF programme, and Barbados has been sending home people in droves not because they do not like these people but because of the economic reality,” Minister Skerrit noted.
“So, even when we ask for salary increases, which the State is saying it cannot afford, the question we have to ask the very same people is, ‘Are you prepared to pay more?’”
The Prime Minister stressed the fact that salary payments do not come from his personal pocket.
“At the end of the day the people believe that they are asking me, Skerrit, for more money. I can only give what is in the treasury of Dominica and what is in the treasury of Dominica is what Dominicans are prepared to pay into the treasury of Dominica,” Hon. Skerrit explained.
He continued, “I cannot use money from other countries to pay salaries in Dominica; I cannot go to the World Bank and take a loan to pay salaries in Dominica, and even if I were able to do it, are we prepared to pay more taxes to pay this loan back?”
The Prime Minister explained that running a country is no different from managing financial resources at home. In the same way individuals may sometimes have to sacrifice personal luxuries such as private transportation due to shortage of funds for gas, some things must be sacrificed in order to survive these trying economic times.
Hon. Skerrit assured Dominicans that his Government will continue being responsive to the needs of the people and responsible with the island’s resources.
