The Public Debt in St. Kitts and Nevis under the Team Unity Government of Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris, rose in 2017 and stood at approximately EC$1.6 billion, according to the Annual Economic and Financial Review for 2017 issued by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
It said the total outstanding public sector debt increased marginally to EC$1 billion 598 million (62.6 percent of GDP) at the end of 2017, in contrast to a decline of 2.1 percent to EC$1 billion, 553.2 million (63.2 percent of GDP) in 2016,” the ECCB said.
The ECCB said the hike in the National Debt largely reflected an increase in the outstanding debt of both the central government and public corporations.
“The liabilities of the central government, which
accounted for 80.1 percent of total debt, rose by 0.1 per cent to EC$1 billion and 281.4 million,” the central bank said.
ECCB said the public corporations accounted for the remaining 19.9 percent of total debt outstanding totalling EC$317.4 million.
Of the debt held by residency, domestic debt rose by 1.4 percent to EC$1 billion 173.5 million, and represented 73.4 percent of the public sector debt portfolio at the end of 2017.
“The increase in domestic debt reflected new borrowings by the Nevis Island Administration. In contrast, the external debt component fell by 1.9 percent to EC$423.5 million,” the ECCB said.