Tunapuna chamber welcomes plan to limit expenditure

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GREATER Tunapuna Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GTCIC) president Surindra Maharaj, says his members “would like to share in” Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s optimism about the economy. However with growth still based on the energy sector, it cannot. “Imbert has painted a beautiful portrait of TT’s booming economy but questions remain over the statistics and figures (he gave) and it seems to be a painting by numbers. The reality...remains dark, made bleaker by the Finance Minister’s inflated optimism.”

Maharaj was commenting on the 2018 Mid-Year Review (MYR), in which Imbert said, “The economy is turning around. In fact, it has turned around. Revenue collection is up, the non-oil sector is growing, the energy sector is booming but we are very much aware that the continuing consolidation of our fiscal finances is an essential condition for achieving our objectives.”

Questioning this, Maharaj said projected economic growth “is purely minimal, at 2.2 per cent in 2019 and 2.5 per cent in 2020.” He was also critical of government’s seeming inability to deal with crime, ease of doing business and foreign exchange availability.

“At the halfway mark of the present administration’s term in office, they have failed to address (these) major issues plaguing the business community and by extension the wider society. (Imbert) made no mention of the crime situation and the domino effect it continues to have on the citizenry of this nation and how it plagues overall economic growth.”

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"Tunapuna chamber welcomes plan to limit expenditure"

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