Thursday, June 28 2012

WINSTON Dookeran’s final official public engagement as Finance Minister took place at the launch of the new $50 note by the Central Bank at the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port- of-Spain last Wednesday. As Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams walked to the podium to give his address at the launch, Trade and Industry Minister Stephen Cadiz arrived and was ushered to the seat which Williams had been occupying.

This prompted the Governor to jokingly remark as he began to speak, that Cadiz had “taken my seat.” When Dookeran later took to the podium to deliver his speech, he also could not help but remark about how Cadiz accidentally sat down in Williams’ seat. “It is so easy to lose your seat,” Dookeran quipped.

Two days after the launch, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced her Cabinet reshuffle, the second in the life of the two-year old People’s Partnership Government. In that reshuffle, Dookeran and Cadiz were reassigned to the ministerial portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Tourism respectively.

In what turned out to be his final speech as Finance Minister, Dookeran disclosed he met with World Bank officials last week in Jamaica and the World Bank has assented to a proposal made by him “to make loan resources available to TT in spite of our status as being graduated.” Dookeran later told reporters whether TT accesses loans from the World Bank and the quantum of loans “will depend on our needs as we go along.” Reiterating that Government is seeking to manage the country’s oil resources and build financial buffers that will benefit the population, Dookeran said, “ We have continued to build up resources in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund which now stand at US$4.4 billion.” He added that “in settling the ‘Clico bubble’ in the way that we did, we have successfully mitigated the financial risks that faced us, as we maintained a high credit rating.”

He later told reporters the country’s projected budget deficit for this year is just over five percent of GDP and this is “within the benchmark for strong financial stability.” He also indicated there were no plans to introduce a revenue authority and Government is not in a position yet to bring land and building taxes legislation to Parliament.