Public Investment

As we approach the next millennium and knowledge-based industries account for an ever-increasing share of global commerce, technology is playing a more vital role in improving international competitiveness and management of the environment truly becomes a global issue, the challenge to governments is to find its appropriate role. In the case of the British Virgin Islands, our overriding priority is to reduce vulnerability of all kinds as identified in our National Integrated Development Strategy (NIDS).

The challenge for Government of the British Virgin Islands is more formidable as we face changes to external trade preferences, the need to adapt to the fast pace of globalization and the marked decline in development assistance. Our vulnerability to a single event can be seen in the economic consequences of some of the recent destructive hurricanes. We are also vulnerable to social and political events both globally and domestically. In undertaking NIDS, we did a comprehensive review of the issues, challenges and opportunities facing us at the turn of the next millennium. In addition, we developed a Medium Term Economic Strategy (MTES) which spells out government public investment strategy for the period 1999-2002. There is the Memorandum of Co-operation and Partnership (signed with the United Kingdom Government) which provides more details of projects and programme during the same period. The Speech from the Throne and the annual Capital Budgets provide further information and rationale for our Public Sector Investment Programme.

We realize that public investment has a purpose and we believe that our citizens should be informed of the issues in Public Sector Investment to which our programmes and plans are responding. All issues cannot be addressed in total within any calendar year so government has developed a list of priorities. The response to those priorities is found in the Core Public Sector Investment Programme as a number of projects. From a longer term perspective, we realize that it is critical to have a strategy which addresses the issues found in NIDS in a comprehensive way over the next decade. In this connection, we have prepared the National Integrated Development Strategy Outline Plan.

Government has not just started public investment. Investments are a natural responsibility of Government and recently we have established a database on Central Government investment.  From this database and consultants hired we have developed some recent Analyses of the Public Sector Investment Programme. These documents gives a comprehensive review of what has happened in public investment from the Central Government perspective; however, the Capital Budget and the relevant parts of the Budget Addresses details investment strategies, performances and promises.