[ad_1]
NIA CHARLESTON, Nevis (August 27, 2024) – The Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM)-led Nevis Island Government (NIA) continues to demonstrate fiscal capacity, with total revenues increasing by more than 10% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2023.
Nevis Minister of Finance and Tourism, Prime Minister Mark Brantley, provided a comparison of the NIA’s financial performance from January to June 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
“Our financial performance in 2023 has improved and we continue to meet or exceed our budgeted amounts…
“Total revenue from January to June 2024 was $119.89 million, an increase of 10.6% or $11.49 million compared to $108.39 million in the same period last year. Recurring revenue from January to June 2024 was $81.89 million, an increase of 9.5% or $7.17 million compared to $74.72 million in the same period of 2023. Tax revenue increased by 8.76% this year, while non-tax revenue increased by 12.43%.
Prime Minister Brantley was holding his monthly press conference and delivering a speech on August 22nd.
He went on to reveal that revenues in certain areas exceeded expectations and significantly outperformed the performance in the same period of 2023. These included the Tourism Development Tax, which rose by 6.4%; Financial Services, which rose by about 15.35%; Stamp Duty, which rose by 128.78%; Import Duty, which rose by 21.14%; and Customs Service Fee, which rose by 21.5%.
Total value-added tax (VAT) revenues were $24.3 million, about 8.4% or $2.4 million below expectations. Social services taxes were also 24.99% or $1.7 million below expectations, underperforming year to date by 4.78% or $0.26 million compared to 2023. Corporate income tax was 36.61% or $2.24 million below expectations, underperforming year to date by 50.43% or $3.95 million compared to 2023.
The Finance Minister also released NIA expenditure data, noting that recurrent expenditure increased by 10.49% or $8.11 million from January to June this year compared to 2023, while recurrent expenditure for the period was 0.37% or $0.32 million below budget.
“The two main areas of our spending continue to be personal compensation (51.93%) and goods and services (21.54%). Personal compensation continues to be a difficult area we are working through, however, personal compensation was 57.19% of our spending in the same period in 2023, compared to 51.93% this year, so it is falling.
“Last year, goods and services accounted for 20.89%, which has increased slightly to 21.54% this year.”
He revealed that capital expenditure from January to June 2024 increased by 0.91% over the same period.
The Prime Minister stressed that both the primary and overall balances are in surplus against the backdrop of a larger fiscal deficit as of June 2024. He said this shows that recurrent revenue growth is still insufficient to support the current pace of expansion in recurrent expenditure.
Prime Minister Brantley further stated that as of June 2024, the total public sector debt of Nevis was $539.77 million, a net decrease of 0.85% compared to last year. However, in terms of the Nevis Investment Authority’s external debt (i.e. debt owed to external creditors), the figure decreased by 11.95% during the period.
[ad_2]
Source link
