The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will bring a Social Protection Bill to Parliament to legally entrench assistance for the nation’s most vulnerable.
Prime Minister Godwin Friday made the announcement in his independence address on Tuesday, during the parade to mark the 47th anniversary of independence from Great Britain.
He said that his government knows that the additional measures it has implemented are not enough to meet the real need that exists in SVG.
“Today the Vulnerability Grant reaches only about one in four of our elderly and one in five of the persons with disabilities living in need,” he said, referring to what had traditionally been called “Public Assistance”.
Earlier this year, the government increased the grant from EC$360 to EC$500 per month, in keeping with its election promise.
“In the coming year, we will continue to extend coverage, with the elderly and persons with disabilities given priority,” Friday told the crowd in Arnos Vale, in an address delivered amid heavy downpours that left some pages of his script stuck together.
“But we need to go even further. We will also place social assistance on a firmer legal footing through the introduction of a new Social Protection Bill,” the prime minister said.
He said the government has trained a field officer for every constituency “so that the assistance will reach the right households quickly and equitably”.
Higher oil prices causing too many Vincies to struggle
The prime minister said too many Vincentians continue to struggle to make ends meet, with higher oil prices as a root cause.
He pointed out that in this highly interconnected world, wars in far-off places such as Ukraine and Iran affect the cost of electricity that VINLEC generates and the price of fuel at the pump in SVG.
“They affect the price of food on store shelves, which becomes more expensive every passing day, causing households to choose not between luxuries and necessities but among the necessities they must buy today and those they must leave for another time.”
The prime minister said 2026 reminded everyone that, as a small island developing state, SVG is vulnerable to adverse events far beyond its shores.
“In late March, conflict in the Middle East sharply drove up international oil prices. Currently, Brent Crude oil is trading at US$116.72, up from US$60.24 in January.”
Friday noted that this is an increase of over 92%, adding, “This oil shock travelled quickly into the price of gasoline at the pump, the fuel surcharge on your VINLEC bill and the cost of cooking gas in our homes.”
He said his government did not stand idle, noting that it introduced a series of measures on May 25 to suppress the impact of the spike in oil prices on the cost of living.
Friday said that the government halved the excise tax and customs service charge on gasoline and diesel, “so that bus fares, transport costs and the cost of doing business would be contained”.
It also removed the customs service charge and excise taxes on the fuel VINLEC uses to generate electricity, with VINLEC committing to match the government’s effort.
The prime minister said the government maintained the 250-kilowatt-hour VAT-free threshold on electricity consumption so that a significant percentage of VINLEC’s consumers incur no VAT on their electricity bills.
“We also removed the customs service charge on cooking gas to ease the cost. “
Through these measures, the government has set aside EC$10.61 million in revenue so that families and businesses do not carry this burden alone, Friday said.
He said that VINLEC also made its contribution to reducing consumers’ electricity bill.
“… VINLEC, through the subsidy it has provided, has absorbed $3.9m of the oil price increases. Put another way: VINLEC has saved households and businesses $3.9 million since May 2026, as it, too, plays its part in cushioning the effects of the higher oil prices.”
‘As we grow, no one will be left behind’
Friday, however, noted that the war continues, adding, “and inevitably, some of the costs will be borne by ordinary consumers as we all play our part in riding out this latest economic storm.
“Your government cares about you, especially the most vulnerable,” he said, adding, “As we grow, no one will be left behind.
“Protecting the vulnerable is central to our government’s mission,” Friday said, noting that earlier this year the government raised the monthly public assistance Vulnerability Grant from EC$360 to EC$500.
“Also, NIS pensioners who received the minimum amount were paid a $40 a month cost-of-living top-up. So far, these two measures have cost the government $1.02 million,” Friday said.
He said the full package of cost-of-living and social protection measures has put $15.53 million back into ordinary people’s pockets.
“Further, more recently, we also brought an additional 150 persons onto the programme, with priority given to persons with disabilities.
“This is your government at work, quietly — some say too quietly — but effectively!”
He also mentioned other cost-of-living measures the government adopted in its early months, including a public servants’ salary bonus; two VAT-free Shopping days; and an increase in the public assistance Vulnerability Grant to $500.
“More recently, in Parliament we passed legislation to allow non-pensionable public servants to continue to work till 65 when they would be eligible to receive full NIS pension.
“This is an important measure that addressed a hardship inflicted on those persons when the NIS pensionable age was moved up to 65 years but they had to retire at 60, without any pension. We corrected that.”
He said that, as a business-friendly measure, the government recently amended the Companies Act to allow companies to clear arrears in filing fees owed to the Commercial and Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).
The law provides a six-month window within which companies can pay only 50% of the fees owed and be back in CIPO’s good books.
“This measure is intended to allow businesses that, for one reason or another, fell behind in their fee payments to clear the debt and move on to do the things we expect businesses to do: provide goods and services, employ more workers and pay their fair share of taxes to the government,” the prime minister said.
“I urge businesses that are in arrears to take this opportunity to regularise their affairs with the Commercial and Intellectual Property Office.”