Camille: only 41 per cent earn below $6,000

Only 41.4 per cent of people in this country earn below $6,000 per month, Planning Minister Camille Robinson Regis said in a release today.

She questioned the validity of the 75 per cent quoted by Tabaquite MP, Dr Suruj Rambachan in Parliament last week.

Rambachan said he got his numbers from the Central Statistical Office (CSO), but Robinson-Regis, who is the line minister for the CSO, challenged Rambachan to prove his claim.

Her information from the CSO, she clarified, suggested a review of its data could not verify Rambachan's stats.

Robinson-Regis said the latest data available with regards to income is from the Continuous Sample Survey of Population (CSSP), 2016 which shows 41.4 per cent of persons with jobs earned $5,999 or less.

She added that CSSP data does not reflect household income, but the income of the working population.

She said the wide disparity between Rambachan's figures and the CSO's was "yet another example of (the Opposition) deliberately manufacturing their own statistics to suit their nefarious political agenda."

She called on the Opposition to raise the level of debate, at least to the level of what is truthful and accurate, rather than engaging in deliberate statements that may mislead and implored Rambachan to admit the inaccuracy of his statements and apologise to the staff of the CSO for bringing the institution into disrepute.