'2020 budget deficit $23b, not $16.8b': Kamla wants answers

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the budget deficit which Finance Minister Colm Imbert estimated to be $16.8 billion for 2020 is really more than $23 billion.

From a virtual platform at the United National Congress (UNC) Monday Night Forum, Persad-Bissesar challenged Imbert to say why he made the deficit to be less than it really is and explain where the extra $23 billion went.

“Since they (People’s National Movement Government) came in, they have been running deficits higher and higher and higher. Always overspending, squandermania, spending on contracts for wives and families.”

Referring to page 183 of the Review of the Economy, she said Imbert clearly stated it was $16.8 billion.

However, she said, page 5 of the Estimates of Revenue 2021, under Heads 10 and 11, which tells about how much money was needed to finance the budget also told what was the deficit.

“And in there it was, over $23 billion in deficit for fiscal 2019/2020, not the $16.8 billion Imbert said with his own mouth.”

“He lied. Minister Imbert, I ask you to tell us why you lied to the country, why you tried to hide the depth of the hole we are in in terms of deficit.

“And even more important, what did you do with this extra $23billion? The country deserves an answer. The indebtedness for borrowing, our children and grandchildren will have to pay it.”

She said $16.4 billion came from borrowing, on top of borrowings from the previous years and $6.6 billion from raiding the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF).

“While they blame Kamla and the UNC and the PP, thank God we left money in the HSF. That is the money they are raiding and spending.”

Persad-Bisessar also raised questions about $7 billion to be used for repatriation of nationals, how it was disbursed, how many nationals were repatriated and what were the selection criteria.

She explained that during the Standing Finance Committee under the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, she questioned a line item with a sum of $100,000 allotted for something called repatriation of nationals.

“That was allocated in last budget fiscal 2019/2020. You know when you look at the revised estimates to see how much was spent out of that $100,000?

"Zero. Nothing was spent. And you know what, they put it in the budget again for fiscal 2020/2021 – $100,000.”

She said when her colleagues questioned the sum at the SFC under the Ministry of Finance they were told of some kind of humanitarian and other relief into which some $7 billion was put to repatriate nationals.

“When we asked how many nationals have been repatriated, you cannot get an answer. When you asked how were they chosen you could not get an answer. Later on, under Foreign Affairs, when I raised it again, then they told us they now extended this $7 billion to December.

“So what did you spend in fiscal 19/20 during these many months of lockdown?Was there some secret way you could apply for this money? How come all the other stranded nationals abroad did not know there was a particular item in the budget you could apply for?”

Persad-Bissessar said they got no satisfactory answers but will, through the Freedom of Information Act, “because that is not your money it is the money of the taxpayers of TT.”

She described the budget as a "fake budget," saying every time the UNC members asked questions they were told by the respective ministers more money would be added if required in the mid-term review, and asked to put everything else in writing.

She recalled this response from the Foreign Affairs Minister when she questioned him about a line item with respect to money spent on contracted services: he said part was spent on landscaping the new building the ministry had moved into.

When she said she was speaking about overseas mission which had no landscaping to do, “He grudgingly said to put it in writing.

“That was the outcome of that whole SFC. Some exposures were made but the majority of instances was ‘kick the can down the road. Next year in the mid-year review I am going to tell you but for now, put it in writing.'

“What’s the point of giving us these estimates if you cannot justify them as being feasible?” she asked.