Hinds: Cabinet's planning guided by Road Map to Recovery

NATIONAL Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has said the Cabinet’s planning for the new fiscal year is being guided by the Road Map to Recovery study and report compiled by noted economist Prof Karl Theodore.

During a news conference on April 16, 2020, at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, the Prime Minister had announced the establishment of a 23-member Road Map to Recovery team to chart Trinidad andTobago’s development post-covid19.

The team includes Public Administration Minister Allyson West, trade unionist Michael Annisette, businessman Christian Mouttet, UWI chancellor Robert Bermudez, economist Wendell Mottley and others.

Dr Rowley, who chairs the committee, had said subsequently in Parliament that the finance ministry had commissioned Theodore to do an initial assessment of TT’s economic situation with respect to covid19. He had also said Theodore’s working document would form part of the team’s work.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, during day two of the Cabinet’s retreat in Tobago, Hinds wrote that its purpose is to “redefine our pathway, as an imperative, in light of the Road Map to Recovery study and report, chaired by Prof Karl Theodore which followed the covid19 battering of our economy and economic development plans.”

Hinds also wrote that Rowley’s leadership “is nothing short of phenomenal and transformational.”

He said while the UNC “grumble and complain, snipe and try to sabotage, badmouth and condemn, we are about the nation’s business.

“I am proud of my colleagues and assure you that your nation is in safe and honest hands. The UNC, their proxies, lackeys, supporters and friends are of no consequence. We are on the job.”

At Thursday’s retreat, Minister of Digital Transformation Hassel Bacchus also made a presentation, according to posts on both the Office of the Prime Minister and Dr Rowley’s Facebook pages.

The three-day retreat, chaired by Rowley, began on Wednesday at the Prime Minister’s official Tobago residence in Blenheim. It is expected to address the upcoming national budget, among other matters. The current financial year ends in September.

The agenda also includes planning and future spending, including utilising some $644 million in IMF funding to help small and medium business struggling with the effects of the pandemic.