2020 Annual Economic and Financial Review

2020 Annual Economic and Financial Review

DOMESTIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

balance generated a deficit of $776.8m (4.4 per cent of GDP) in contrast to a surplus of $380.8m (1.8 per cent of GDP) in the previous year. All member countries with the exception of Anguilla registered primary deficits, led by the Commonwealth of Dominica which posted a primary deficit of 13.6 per cent of GDP.

Citizenship by Investment Programmes of 30.9 per cent. Meanwhile, the fall in tax revenue reflected declines in all of the major categories, with the sharpest declines recorded in its two largest components. Collections from taxes on domestic goods and services and taxes on international trade and transactions, which together accounted for 75.0 per cent of regional tax revenue, both declined by 15.2 per cent, mainly reflecting lower economic activity from travel and other pandemic-related restrictions. All countries, except Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Montserrat recorded contractions in tax revenue. The increase in tax intake in these two member countries was however marginal, at 1.7 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively. Current expenditure amounted to $4,997.7m (28.5 per cent GDP), a marginal contraction of 0.7 per cent relative to the prior year’s total of $5,033.5m (24.2 per cent of GDP). The lower outturn was driven by contractions in three member countries, which overshadowed the expansion in the remaining five. The three countries which exhibited contractions were

ECCU Public Finance (EC$M)

6000.0

5000.0

4000.0

3000.0

2000.0

1000.0

0.0

(1000.0)

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Current Revenue

Current Expenditure

Current Balance (before grants)

Capital Expenditure

The current account yielded a deficit of $500.0m (2.9 per cent of GDP), in contrast to the previous year’s surplus of $380.8 (1.8 per cent of GDP). Current revenue totalled $4,497.7m (25.7 per cent of GDP), a decline of 16.9 per cent from the prior year’s amount of $5,414.3m (26.1 per cent of GDP). The fall resulted from contractions in both tax revenue (14.4 per cent) and non- tax revenue (25.8 per cent). The deterioration in non-tax revenue was driven by lower receipts from the

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