Paray: Budget lacked vision

MAYARO MP Rushton Paray on Tuesday said the budget lacked any vision and a programme to develop the inputs to businesses.

He was speaking in the budget debate in the House of Representatives.

"There was nothing new, there was nothing innovative."

He said the budget was mostly a continuation of existing programmes.

"Nothing is wrong with that, but when we are coming to a budget in a critical time that we are in here in Trinidad and Tobago and the desire of a population which wants to be 'lifted,' there was nothing 'lifting' the population there."

He said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need more than just lip service in the budget, but rather, need genuine help through funding, training, mentorship and navigating bureaucratic hurdles. The MP urged targeted investment in education and training for businesses.

"The budget should have been a beacon of hope."

Paray flatly denied government claims that opposition MPs were unpatriotic when they questioned aspects of governance. He said no one on the opposition benches wants the country to fail, as this would mean their children's dreams would also fail.

Paray asked if the Government had considered alternatives to funding the National Insurance Board (NIB) pension other than raising the retirement age.

"For years, there has been a call to bring in domestic workers."

He said over 50,000 people in TT work as domestic workers.

"What about the option of bringing in small business owners? Have a classification for them so that we can bring more contributions into the NIB system."

He also suggested including Venezuelans.

"The numbers, in terms of Venezuelans who are in this country, it is well known it is far beyond the 17,000 or 18,000 that are registered. Can't we find a mechanism of bringing in what most of these agencies determine is close to 80,000, 90,000 or even 100,000 Venezuelans on this island?

"Get them into the productive sectors, get them into the national insurance contribution system, and let's see if we can bridge that gap."

Paray hailed Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon as a hard-working minister.

But he questioned her speech, which had preceded his, saying GDP had shrunk by 17 per cent since 2015.

Saying she had cited good percentages of growth in several sectors, Paray remarked, "One only has to take note that the data is from 2021 to now."

He said the increase cited by the minister had very little to do with any government policy.

"It had more to do with the sectors that were in slumber post-covid. So these industries woke up in 2021, and when you are at the bottom the only place you can go is up."

Paray also queried government claims of 3.7 per cent unemployment, and urged more help for businesses to ttheir VAT refunds.

He lamented TT's ranking in the ease of doing business, a sticking point to attracting foreign investors, such as taking 254 days to secure a construction licence.

Paray said the World Bank in 2020 identified five impediments to TT's ease of doing business, namely: "corruption, foreign-exchange controls, crime, low productivity and government bureaucracy." He said these remained unaddressed today, even as TT now stood as the sixth worst country for crime.

Paray said the Energy Chamber CEO, Dax Driver, had lamented bureaucracy in the state administration of the energy sector.

"He confirmed that there are 33 sequential approvals that are needed from eight ministries just to proceed from a bid to first gas production.

"He also highlights the outdated paper-based decision-making process, lamenting that there are missing files."

Paray asked what Finance Minister Colm Imbert had meant when he vowed to repatriate money held abroad by businesses.

"Is the minister signalling a shift towards state control on capital movement? This is a concerning development, as it has been 30 years since the dollar was floated and those types of control were lifted."

He feared individuals and organisations might lose autonomy over their legitimate US currency.

"I want the minister to be very clear what he means by that. Does he mean that when my supplier or my customer in the US wires funds to my US account here in Trinidad, will I have control on my US currency to decide what I do with it, or does the minister mean that when the US currency comes into the Central Bank, it is held, and then I will get the TT value?"

On Mayaro constituency issues, he lamented water supply problems, bad roads and flooding.

Paray said 372 constituents who had applied for grants under the Self-Help Programme had not yet been addressed.

"A large amount of that is for fire victims. A large amount of that is for homes that are sitting on the verge of landslips, (and) we are trying to do remedial work for these families."

He recalled personally paying for water delivery and medication for desperate pensioners, but hoped the relevant ministries would step up to the plate.

Paray urged a new public housing scheme in Rio Claro, an area with a substantial pool of individuals like teachers and police officers.

He saluted Eastern Division and Rio Claro police for promptly arresting someone for the murders of Andrea Lallan, 13, and her uncle Sylvan Lallan.

"I'll continue to work with my colleagues across the floor," he promised, "as we continue to serve in the best interest of the people."