23 July 2020
St Helena Government’s (SHG) Corporate Policy and Planning Unit has today released St Helena’s Sustainable Economic Development Plan (SEDP) end-of-year progress report for 2019-20. The full end-of-year report can be found on the Public Information, Reports and Policies page of the SHG website: https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/government/public-information/.
Since the mid-year report published in November 2019, key Report headlines include:
- To date, we have successfully kept the Island COVID-19 free. New Coronavirus testing services were developed, supplies were received and the quarantine, isolation and medical facilities at Bradley’s were developed in an incredible six weeks, all significant achievements given the limited resources available
- Standard and Poor’s (S&P) awarded St Helena an investment grade credit rating of BBB- this year
- SHG estimates the Rockfall Protection Project added £255,000 – £273,000 to St Helena’s economic activity over the course of the six-month project
- A contract was signed in December 2019 with Google for a branching unit on the Equiano cable to deliver superfast broadband to St Helena
- The New Earth Station Licencing Policy was agreed, laying the groundwork for a new revenue stream made possible through the fibre optic cable
- In December 2019, SHG endorsed a new Labour Market Strategy that is intended to meet the needs of St Helena today while also providing a strong foundation on which to build the economy of tomorrow
- A preferred bidder for fish processing on St Helena was announced in January 2020. The proposal is to set up a Co-Operative amongst local fishers and operate the processing facility without operating subsidy
- Air freight charges for St Helena fresh produce were waivered for business-to-business sales for a trial period beginning in February 2020
- The Gibraltar International Bank started offering international banking facilities to residents on St Helena
- The Minimum Income Standard was updated to reflect inflationary increases in prices, and the Basic Island Pension and Income Related Benefits increased as a result.
Here is an infographic which illustrates some of the latest economic data.
Notes to Editors
St Helena’s SEDP 2018-2028 was endorsed by Executive Council in May 2018. In order to ensure that the SEDP continues to be effective, six-monthly reviews of the actions were planned alongside yearly updates of the indicator data.
The SEDP vision is to achieve development which is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable and the actions outlined within the SEDP intend to address barriers to achievement.
#StHelena #SEDP #EconomicDevelopment
SHG
23 July 2020