Given the small size of Grenada – 133 sq. miles – population of 100,000 – and the lopsided and dependent economy that the British Empire had left on decolonisation, improving the economic performance of the country was always going to be an uphill struggle, with the only bonus being that the elimination of the previous government’s corruption gave an immediate boost to the exchequer.

The Gairy regime had left no database of statistics, indeed there was no mechanism for collecting any statistics. The only possibility for planning was the heavy involvement of the mass organisations, while opening the books to public scrutiny. The process of preparing the 1982 budget involved 25 meetings of Workers Parish and Zonal Councils, the National … Read on ...