By Sue-Ann Wayow
TOBAGO seems not to be making any steady economic growth which is reflected in the budgetary allocations for fiscal 2023.
Head of the Tobago Business Chamber Martin George in a video statement on Tuesday said suggestions and recommendations made to Central Government were not heeded.
“We keep making the points to the Minister of Finance that in the hope that one day, these suggestions would bear fruit,” he said.
On Monday, during his Budget presentation in the House of Representatives in Port-of-Spain, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced that the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) received an allocation of $2.5 billion representing 4.3% of the $57.6 billion budget.
Out of that allocation, $2.194 billion has been allocated for recurrent expenditure, $300 million for the THA’s development programme, $18 million for the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) and $9.2 million for (Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme) CEPEP.
The THA had initially requested $3.97 billion.
George said while the entire allocation was satisfactory, the allocation towards recurrent expenditure was not.
“This is way too much of your budgetary allocation to be on recurrent expenditure. This represents 87% of your budgetary allocation… Recurrent expenditure simply means you are just spending money to stay afloat,” he said.
There was nothing major for real infrastructural development or capital investment programme in Tobago, he said.
Goerge said, “That does not represent the type of growth or development we would like to see for Tobago.”
He added that the Chamber has not been seeing a comprehensive long-term plan for Tobago from both central Government and the THA for Tobago to begin to achieve some sort of self sustainably and economic independence.
George again called for the repeal of the current Foreign Investment Act which was preventing major entities from investing in Tobago.
“The government has no excuse for not repealing the Act” he said.
George also said the Chamber was still looking forward to Tobago becoming a duty-free zone.
And the suggestion was made to have a dedicated URP and CEPEP agriculture sector that will focus specifically on revitalising the agriculture sector in Tobago.
The issue I have with the Foreign Investment Act. In particular with regards to Tobago is, that in the mid to late 90’s, the people of Tobago protested against foreign coming to Tobago and buying up their lands, building private homes and Villers and they got the Government to place a restrictions on foreigners buying lands in Tobago.
Now they calling on the Central Government to remove the ban.