Business
St. Lucia: VAT effective Oct 1st
He said that operation of the new hospital to be completed by year end and a reconstructed St. Judes Hospital in the south would require an additional XCD$ 50 million (US$18.5 million).
Senator Parle, a veteran hotel executive, acknowledged that no member of the formal business community was opposed to the VAT.
“We understand the imposition of VAT but there are serious concerns,” she said.
Leader of Government Business and Minister of Home Affairs Senator Phillip La Corbiniere presented the bill from the lower house with the admission that VAT in any country would lead to both price rises and cuts for consumers.
But he informed members that most food items had been placed in a “VAT-exempt food basket.”
In response to concerns about the fate of prescription medicines in the VAT legislation, Senator La Corbiniere said Castries had applied to the CARICOM Secretariat for the removal of all import duties on medicines.
The minister said his eight-month-old administration came to office facing “a very challenging economic period which made it even more difficult to raise revenue which is going to be needed to sustain employment and support economic growth.”
