By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Wednesday 4th May 2022) — Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dr. Timothy Harris has announced that the government will extend the Income and Disability Support Programmes for an additional three months running up to June 2022. “This will further assist workers who remain unemployed, are on significantly reduced wages or have additional expenses from caring for children with disabilities,” he said in his Labour Day message on Monday 2nd May 2022.
In a separate announcement, PM Harris reported that “my government has determined that our civil servants, pensioners and STEP workers will benefit from an increase in wages, salaries and pensions at a rate of 10% retroactive to January 2022.” The increase will benefit approximately 4,000 salaried Civil Servants, 1,064 Government Auxiliary Employees, 1,365 Pensioners and 2,800 STEP workers. Given increasing inflationary pressures, five short-term fiscal policy measures were also announced: the Income and Disability Support extension; a reduction in the Excise Tax on fuel importation from $2.25 per gallon to $0.95 (from April to September 2022); a six-month extension of the Fuel Subsidy Programme; the reintroduction of duty-free allowance on food imports by non-commercial importers from May 1st to September 30 2022, allowing households to import 500 pounds of food items free of duties and taxes; and an eight-month cap on freight costs used in the calculation of duties and taxes on imported goods. PM Harris also extended the removal of VAT and import duty on hygiene items and selected food items for a further six months from July to December 2022.