There were two documents that caught my attention this week, Edwin St Catherine’s Analysis of St Lucia Labour Market Needs Assessment Survey 2012 and the Budget Statement 2013-2014 . The irony is that one should have informed the other. There are some startling conclusions generated from the excellent statistical work done by Edwin in that Analysis, and he continues to be a good servant of St. Lucia. It is one’s hope that his work will be used more frequently in the development of policy within St. Lucia. One would wish to highlight some of the conclusions developed and to examine how these can shape policy decisions in St. Lucia. The Analysis was done based on a sample size of 498 firms excluding agricultural farm holdings/firms and central government entities. The Assessment therefore provides some insight as to how the private sector is contributing to reduction in unemployment...

Recently, I read an article penned by Dr. Ronald Ramkissoon in which he reviewed an IMF Report entitled Caribbean Small States: Challenges of High Debt and Low Growth (February 20, 2013). The IMF Report outlined the following issues facing Caribbean States:a. An extreme version of low growthb. High debtc. Significant vulnerabilitiesd. Limited resilience to shocks e. Low productivity and high costs Dr. Ramkissoon generally agreed with the diagnosis of the economic disease but expressed some concerns on the prescription for the economic disease. All five issues stated above are relevant to St. Lucia and thus we must accept that St. Lucia is in a challenging period in its history. I had a read of this IMF report to see what the prescription was provided to the Caribbean. I would preface my comment by first saying that the economists at the IMF still do not seem to have an understanding of...