By Sue-Ann Wayow
OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the loss of more than US$9oo million from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) was not surprising.
This is because the Government has a track record of incompetence and negligence, she said.
In a press release on Monday, Persad-Bissessar also mentioned the government’s withdrawal of US $1.9 billion which was stated by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley in an earlier press conference.
She said, “The government’s withdrawal of over US$1.9 billion or TT$12.9 billion from the fund over the past seven years and nine months has severely undermined its purpose and depleted its resources. This stands in stark contrast to the previous UNC-led government, which diligently followed the law governing the HSF and contributed to its growth.”
Persad-Bissessar said, “The question of using deficits is irrelevant especially when you consider that this PNM government has amassed deficits in excess of $68 billion cumulatively more than four times the total deficit of the UNC-led government.”
It has also caused Adjusted General Government Debt Outstanding to rise from TT$73 billion at the end of the second quarter in 2015, the last full quarter of the UNC-led Government to $128.8 billion by December last year.
This is an increase of $55.8 billion or more than a 76% increase in net Government debt, she said.
“The decline of over $6 billion TTD in the HSF in just one year, as confirmed by the Central Bank, is a clear indication of the government’s incompetence and negligence,” Persad-Bissessar said.
She said it was also important to note that under her government made deposits to the HSF whenever surplus revenues from petroleum were generated and that Trinidad and Tobago recorded the highest foreign reserves in history which consistently depleted since the UNC demitted office in 2015.
