Prime Minister Godwin Friday has stood by his statement that there is a “silent crisis in poverty” in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), as he termed it in his Budget Address on Feb. 9.
Wrapping up the Budget Debate on Friday, the prime minister said Leader of the Opposition Ralph Gonsalves had “mocked our poverty framing” by seeking to dismantle the claim that one-third of the people are already in poverty, or one paycheque away from it.
Friday was explaining to the nation the realities as his New Democratic Party (NDP) met them when it came to office on Nov. 27, after 25 years of Unity Labour Party governance.
Leading off the debate on Tuesday, Gonsalves, who was prime minister during the ULP tenure from March 2001 to November 2025, read international news headlines on poverty.
He described as “dramatic” the prime minister’s announcement that “nearly one in three Vincentians, more than 33% of the population, are either already living in poverty or remain only a single paycheque or natural disaster away from falling into it”.
Gonsalves said:
“You don’t tell us, actually, how many are in poverty, … and how many persons are one paycheque away. You get everything together. What we know is that when we arrived in office, poverty, general poverty, was 37% of the population, and that’s our inheritance from the NDP. And indigence was 26% — dirt poor was 26% and that has subsequently been reduced substantially…”
The opposition leader then went on to quote CBS in the United States reporting that “40% of Americans only one missed paycheck away from poverty”.
Gonsalves commented:
“That’s in America, the most prosperous country, we are told, in the world,” adding that The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported a study as finding that in that country, one in three families is a month’s pay from losing their homes, says a study.
“Canada, a national poster country, which the prime minister, through citizenship and residence, is very familiar ‘one in four Canadians live in poverty new report says’,” Gonsalves said, referring to the prime minister’s dual Vincentian and Canadian citizenship.
However, Friday rejected Gonsalves’ statements, saying, “I don’t live in another country. I live here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
He said the fact that it happened elsewhere doesn’t mean that poverty is something to accept, but something to eradicate.
The prime minister said history has shown that when poverty data exposes uncomfortable truths, certain administrations hide them because they can’t face the consequences.
Friday said that during the Labour government from 1967 to 1972, a poverty study was conducted by the University of the West Indies, but it was suspended because the authorities did not like the findings.
He said that decades later, 2018-2019, there was a survey on poverty in SVG, which was paid for by external agencies, but the ULP government didn’t like the preliminary results and attempted to bury the data, intimidating public servants who tried to share the information.
Friday said that while in opposition, his colleagues obtained that data and brought it to the public.
“And now, we don’t just have the printed preliminary form; we have access to all of it. And we will make that public,” Friday said.
Friday said his government will not operate in the shadows because it believes the people deserve truth and honesty.
He reiterated that the indigence line increased by 28%, rising from EC$2,446 to EC$3,142. The poverty line rose by 18%, from EC$5,523 to EC$6,547, and the vulnerability line also climbed by 18.5%.
“What does this mean for real people? It means that nearly 26% of Vincentians are categorised as poor, unable to meet basic food and non-food needs.
“These are facts that a further 8% are vulnerable, one step away from falling into poverty. In total, one in every three Vincentians lives in poverty or is at high risk of being in poverty”.
The prime minister, however, noted that the figures did not include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the April 2001 volcanic eruption, or Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024.
“So you can anticipate that the situation has gotten worse,” the prime minister said and reiterated that his government will not bury data.
“We will not silence officials or hide the truth. We will report with honesty, govern transparently, and design policy based on evidence, on facts, not on politics,” he told lawmakers, who went on to approve the EC$1.9 budget without opposition support.
Jesus said, “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always” (Matthew 26:11).
One interpretation of this piece of Scripture is that a lack of Godliness — a rejection of Jesus Christ as the Son of Almighty God who came to cleanse our sins if we accepted and applied His message — is one of the causes of our poverty.
Do that Sir. That way we can track our poverty meter. Lots of pkverry under ULP..5 yrs time ..situation improved..less poverty..no excuses.
When ignorance and lack of knowledge set in, some people usually say, “It’s up to God.”