THA adviser: Outdated formula cost Tobago $490m in budget

Anslem Richards, chief technical adviser, Division of Finance, is calling for an urgent review of the 24-year-old formula used by the Dispute Resolution Commission (DRC) to recommend Tobago's percentage of the national budget.

In 2000, the DRC recommended the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) be allocated between 4.03 and 6.9 per cent of the national pie. The decision was based on several factors, including the size of Tobago's population.

During the 2024/2025 budget presentation on September 30, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said Tobago would receive $2.599 billion for the fiscal year. This represented 4.35 per cent of the national budget – below the 5.8 per cent Chief Secretary Farley Augustine had requested.

But during an October 8 interview with Tobago Updates, Richards said this DRC formula was outdated, as Tobago's population has grown considerably since then.

"We need to understand the thinking and circumstances that informed the 4.03 per cent.

"At the time, in 2000, Tobago population, as a share of the national population, was 4.03 per cent. If you go to the THA Act, there are a number of conditions that the act states that the Parliament should give consideration to when it is making allocations to the THA for the operations of the business of Tobago in any fiscal year.

"Those things speak to the absence of the multiplier effect, the removal of Tobago from the centre of economic activity, the lack of educational opportunities. A host of things are listed in the law, because they recognised Tobago was starting from a place of disadvantage."

He said Tobago's population has grown to 5.1 per cent of the national population.

"If we are working with the DRC methodology, as a minimum, Tobago should have been allocated 5.1 per cent."

Responding to a question from Newsday on October 8, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said the 2023 mid-year population estimate of TT was 1,367,510.

However, it was unable to give a recent breakdown of the population of the individual islands. It said that data was only available from the census, which was last done in 2011.

In that census, the 2011 national population was 1,328,019: 1,267,144 in Trinidad and 60,874 in Tobago.

Richards told Newsday that using a formula from Dr Selvon Hazel, chief economist at the THA Division of Finance, "We have been tracking our own population growth to calculate our GDP."

He said using the 2023 CSO estimate, it calculated Tobago had 5.1 per cent of the national population.

He said the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister were both informed of the THA's position.

Richards said Imbert was presented with the THA's data in person at an August 30 meeting.

"We are at 5.1 per cent – that should have been our minimum entitlement. We have put on 0.7 per cent to deal with those conditions that the act speaks to.

"We are not asking for anything that is unreasonable. We are asking based on facts and science and the population requirement of the people of Tobago."

Richards said because Tobago's increase in population was disregarded, the island has been denied over $400 million in funding.

"The central government owes the people of Tobago $490 million."

He said Ministry of Finance staff seemed either unaware of or uninterested in how the DRC recommendation came about.

Richards said the Chief Secretary wanted to go to court to challenge Tobago's minimum share, but he had urged him to use diplomacy instead. However, Richards said the time for diplomacy may have passed.

"The central government has a responsibility to pass laws and regulation for the good and harmonious governance of the republic of TT. That means passing laws and regulations to ensure the progressive relationship and harmonious development of the people of Trinidad and the people of Tobago.

"When you treat the island like you are treating the island, it breeds a kind of thinking among Tobagonians that 'We are not considered worthy.'"