By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Budget 2022/2023 read by Finance Minister Colm Imbert last month is now in the Standing Finance Committee stage.
This after 19 Opposition Members of Parliament voted against the Budget being read a second time as they stated it was an oppressive budget only meant to further cripple Trinidad and Tobago’s economy.
On Tuesday evening, after extensive debates in the House of Representatives, the question was put forward by House Speaker Brigid Annisette George for the Appropriation (Financial Year 2023), 2022 (the Budget) to be read a second time.
Government MPs all voted for while the Opposition was against it. There were 22 votes for and 19 against. There are 41 MPs in the Lower House.
As a result, the Bill will now go to the Standing Finance Committee which begins on Wednesday in Parliament.
In a release issued afterwards, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar stated, “It is our view that this draconian fiscal plan of suppression should not go forward given the immense hardship which it will place on an already burdened nation.”
She again pledged to hold the Government accountable and repeated her call to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to withdraw the Budget immediately.
Highlights of the Budget included an additional price increase at the fuel pump and senior citizens now having to pay to travel by boat to Tobago.
In his Budget presentation on Tuesday, Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Faris Al-Rawi admitted that the population was hurting and he said he empathises with citizens.
