NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (27, 06, 2018) — Hon. Mark Brantley Premier of Nevis and Minister of Finance welcomed a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Nevis at a meeting with senior officers in the ministry at the Ministry of Finance conference room on June 27, 2018, to conduct the Fund’s annual Article IX Mission, to review the economy of St. Kitts and Nevis.
He described the meeting as an important engagement which would provide a realistic assessment from an independent outside agency, of how the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is doing.
“I want you to appreciate that what you do is important to us, in terms of setting the necessary framework for us, letting us know where we are falling short and hopefully, if there are areas that we are doing well, letting us know that as well. So we welcome this level of engagement. We think it’s important for us as a government.
“I think you would know that we are a new government…We are trying our best to move forward and to ensure that we can get the necessary framework, get the necessary indicators as to where we are, getting the necessary pointers, if you will. You are the experts, not us and so we definitely would like to hear more from you as to where we are, what we ought to be doing,” he said.
Mr. Brantley also presented a summary of programmes and policies of the NIA for the 2018 period in accordance with what was outlined in the Throne Speech and the Budget Address.
The team is headed by Mr. Arnold McIntyre, Deputy Division Chief in the Caribbean Division at the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department. He is accompanied by Mr. Takuji Komatsuzaki, Senior Economist; and Mr. Mauricio Vargas, Economist.
Other members of the team are Mr. Stephan Maier, Economist in the Economics Department of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Mr. Kevin Woods, Economist II in the Research Department at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and his colleague Mr. Peter Abraham Jr., Economist at the ECCB.
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