Heritage and Stabilisation Fund withdrawals support budget financing, says Prime Minister

The Prime Minister said funds drawn from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) go into the consolidated fund and are used to finance all the fiscal and economic programmes of Trinidad and Tobago as authorised by the Parliament via approval in the annual budget.

He was responding to a question from Caroni Central MP Arnold Ram during the Prime Minister’s question segment on Friday. Ram asked how the drawdown of the US$900 million in 2020 and the US$300 million in 2021 had been spent.

Dr Rowley said, “There is no specific earmarking of funds for the specific purpose, it is budget support which goes into the consolidated fund, so it funds every aspect of the government’s operations during the year.”

Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal asked if the Prime Minister was aware that the report on the first withdrawal of US$400 million in 2020 stated specifically that the funds were used to support the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Housing Development Corporation and the Urban Development Corporation of TT, to which Rowley responded that he didn’t see the point of that.

“The government’s annual budget for service of the country contains a development programme and some of that money will go to the development programme... I just told you it funds the annual budget and it the budget, the development programme has housing, bridges, roads, that is what it’s doing. The fund is not withdrawn specifically to be applied to a particular project, it goes into the consolidated fund and therefore supports the entire uplift of the state.”

Naparima MP Rodney Charles asked for Rowley’s assurance that the HSF will be used for investment and not recurrent expenditure, to which the Prime Minister responded that everything government does is an investment.

“Whether it’s a social programme, health, education, everything we do to service the country is an investment, either in our health, education, national security, construction, our investment in business, that is for the health of this country.”