By Sue-Ann Wayow
REVENUES collected from supplemental petroleum tax, petroleum profits tax and royalties for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 were $103.3 million less than the official estimates of revenue in the 2022 Budget for that particular quarter.
As a result, under the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) Act, no deposit could be made to the HSF for that quarter states Minister of Finance Colm Imbert.
Imbert in a press release issued on Wednesday said that he has taken note of Opposition Member of Parliament for Naparima Rodney Charles, statements about deposits to the HSF which were “inaccurate and misleading.”
In a press release, Charles claimed that his data showed that energy revenues in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 may have exceeded what was budgeted by 39%, or “much more than what is required to make a deposit into the HSF”.
Charles said information obtained from the Central Bank suggested that a deposit should have been made by January for the period October 2021 to December 2021.
Section 13 of the HSF Act states: “Where petroleum revenues collected in each quarter of any financial year exceed the estimated petroleum revenues for that quarter of the financial year by more than ten per cent,… the excess revenue shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund and deposited to the Fund.”
During Parliament, Imbert was asked whether any deposits were made to the HSF for the mentioned period to which Imbert responded no deposit was made.
Imbert said, “However, it appears that this Opposition MP either has no understanding of the operation of the HSF Act or the terminology and formula used in that Act. Alternatively, if he in fact knows how petroleum revenues are calculated for the purposes of the HSF Act, he is deliberately trying to confuse and mislead the public.”
The minister stated that under the HSF Act, “petroleum revenues” were defined as “the aggregate of the supplemental petroleum tax, petroleum profits tax and royalties.”
“This is very different to the vague, nebulous, and amorphous reference to “energy revenues” erroneously used by the Opposition MP in his press release,” Imbert said.
He said, “Energy revenues will obviously encompass other revenue that is not relevant to the HSF Act and not applied in the legal formula for the calculation of petroleum revenues.
“For the record, the aggregate of supplemental petroleum tax, petroleum profits tax and royalties for the period October 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021 (i.e. the first quarter of fiscal 2022) was $103.3 million less than the official estimates of revenue in the 2022 Budget for that particular quarter. As a result, under the HSF Act, contrary to the assertions of the Opposition, no deposit could be made to the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund for that quarter.”
