‘Conmanship’ budget

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar claimed Finance Minister Colm Imbert engaged in “statistical conmanship” in his budget presentation. “It’s as though he is living on Fantasy Island. Further some would say he was delusional.”

She was speaking with the media following the presentation of the 2018/2019 national budget at the Parliament Building, Port of Spain. She said no one in the country feel any growth, recovery or turn around in their pockets, homes on in the quality of lifestyles. She added Imbert did not seem he was convinced of the theme “turn around” and only used the word once at the end of his statement.

WHAT TURNAROUND?

“He himself is not convinced there has been any turn around.” She said the country still faced high crime, no jobs, a stagnant economy and hardships. She pointed out Imbert said the Government had preserved jobs but from September 2015 to the present 30,000 more people were without jobs and that was only the reported number.

“We know it is more than that.” Persad-Bissessar presented a document she received in her mailbox, and the authenticity of which she could not confirm, which showed, contrary to what Imbert said, Petrotrin paid about $20 billion in royalties and taxes while her administration was in office and for fiscal 2016 $697,274,383, and in 2017 $1.8 billion.

She said Imbert regurgitated and repeated a number of things from the three previous budgets and even things within the same speech. She added a budget was supposed to be a road map for fiscal 2019 and a review of last year. “He could not tell us one project completed by this Government.”

She said Imbert refused to give details about the separation packages to Petrotrin workers and only gave lump sum numbers. She also said he did not acknowledge the Arima Hospital and Point Fortin Hospital were People’s Partnership projects, “No new plans. They trying to fool and hoodwink people.”

PIE-IN-THE-SKY

Persad-Bissessar said Imbert kept using words “expected” and “projected” and it was a pie-in-the-sky budget. She said he was acting as though it was the first budget of a five year term but with just two years left there was no way the mega projects announced will be completed.

“If in three years you have not built a single house how will you build all these mega projects.” On the plans to add more technology to the police service Persad-Bissessar said she was not sure these things would get done very quickly as a lot of things had been in the works for quite a while.

“PNM stands for Promises Never Materialised.” She said she did not believe the numbers Imbert presented and she does not believe there was growth as this was in contradiction with the International Monetary Fund. She added the increase in grants worked out to about one dollar per day which cannot even buy a doubles and this was against the increase in Super gasoline following three previous rises in fuel prices.

Asked if there was anything positive in the budget Persad-Bissessar said she was not feeling very hopeful about the plans presented. “It will not turn the economy around. I think we are falling off a cliff.”