Fact checking the Finance Minister

THE EDITOR: Sometimes we cannot take what our politicians say at face value. So it is with the Finance Minister.

He stated in his 2020 budget presentation that TT has “the lowest inflation rate in the world.” This was according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2019.

What he failed to mention is that 88 other countries were given a score of 100 and a ranking of 1 for their inflation rates. Additionally, the inflation rates varied widely.

For example, TT’s inflation rate was 1.5 per cent with a ranking of 1, Japan’s inflation rate was 0.7 per cent with a rank of 1, and Jordan’s inflation rate was 3.9 per cent and a rank of 1.

The report explained that “100 represents that ‘frontier,’ an ideal state where an issue ceases to be a constraint to productivity growth.”

So Minister Imbert, TT does not have the lowest inflation rate in the world. Please tell the truth and stop prevaricating with figures to try and fool the masses.

Interestingly, Imbert never mentioned that for 2018 GDP at real prices was -0.2 per cent instead of the projected 1.9 per cent. This was a substantial decline in our growth rate.

Didn’t Imbert paint a lovely picture of our economy, with mangoes and pommecytheres flourishing?

LINUS F DIDIER

Mt Hope

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