The contingency fund set up by the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2017 currently stands at 61 million dollars.
In 2017 the government of SVG added one percentage point to the value added tax (VAT) to be put in a contingency fund to help the country in cases of unexpected events including natural disasters and health emergencies.
Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves said that money’s from the fund was able to provide 20 million dollars to help offset some of the challenges faced during the covid19 pandemic and the volcanic eruption.
The Minister said that the decision to establish a contingency fund was part of a series of decisions by the government to better prepare SVG for the next disaster.