Antigua and Barbuda sees fiscal improvement in Q1

Antigua and Barbuda's fiscal performance improved in the first quarter of 2013, according to reports reaching here. The islands' primary surplus in the first quarter tripled to 16.92 million U.S. dollars though government revenue dropped 3.5 percent, said Finance Minister Harold Lovell on Wednesday. He attributed the improvement to strong expenditure controls. The government intends to continue with the exercise of fiscal discipline in months ahead, he said. The fiscal improvement will enable the government to allocate about 10.37 million dollars to cover some of its debt obligations, said the minister. Antigua and Barbuda's debt stands at around 1 billion U.S. dollars, nearly the same amount of the country's GDP. About 60 percent of the overall debt is domestic.