CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The St. Lucia government has presented an EC$1.32 billion (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) budget to Parliament late Tuesday reducing the subsidies on basic food commodities such as rice and flour and increasing the Value Added Tax (VAT) for the hotel industry. Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony told legislators that the budget, which he described as “realistic” and meeting the socio-economic challenges of the country “head on”, represents a nine per cent reduction in expenditure over the 2012-13 fiscal year. Anthony, who is also the Finance Minister, said of the total budget outlay, EC$947.08 million represents the Recurrent Expenditure component and accounts for 71 per cent of total expenditure whereas Capital.