THA: Empty, lengthy budget to oppress Tobago

THA Secretary of Finance Petal-Ann Roberts has described the budget presentation of Finance Minister Colm Imbert as "empty and lengthy."

Roberts was speaking at a media conference on September 30, approximately 30 minutes after Imbert spent five hours and 15 minutes to deliver a $59.7 billion budget for fiscal 2024/2025.

Imbert said the THA will receive $2.599 billion, well short of the $3.956 billion it had requested.

However, Imbert said the current THA administration has been receiving greater funding than its PNM predecessors.

He said, “$2.376 billion has been allocated for recurrent expenditure, $205 million is for development programme expenditure, $18 million for the URP and $9.2 million for CEPEP.”

He added: “The total allocation for the THA in 2025 represents an increase of $22.756 million over the allocation of $2.576 billion for fiscal year 2024.”

But Roberts described the budget as "fiscal wickedness" and oppressive to Tobago.

"Today's presentation was very disappointing but not surprising. It was a slap in the face for Tobagonians. It was empty and lengthy. Very oppressive, regressive and a hopeless presentation for Tobago.

"I think the intent was to inflict hardship on the Tobago economy and stymie the growth of Tobago's potential."

She said the THA will have to rework its plans and programmes to suit the budget.

She also denied that Tobago received its largest budget.

"It is not the largest budget, I think what the minister did is try to play smart with foolishness and excluded the $50 million that he gave under recurrent expenditure for the oil spill. And therefore, we have received $27 million less than last fiscal, which ends tonight (September 30)."

She said Tobago's development would be stunted owing to the lower-than-expected budget.

"We have also seen a slash of 21 per cent in our development programme.

"Tobago, $205 million cannot sustain you; $205 million cannot build Tobago's economy, it cannot enhance the infrastructure of Tobago."

She said Tobago has approximately 370 ongoing projects which would be affected by the national funding.

She said the THA will try to do more with less and push for greater digitisation to improve efficiency.

Roberts said the THA will be impressing upon central government to release its funds in accordance with section 47 of the THA Act, which states that money allocated to the assembly shall be credited in quarterly releases in advance en bloc.

The secretary said Imbert gave a four-year review of the government's term, but lacked any substance and plan for the new fiscal year.