By Sue-Ann Wayow
CITIZENS are being told not to expect anything grand from today’s budget but to instead to brace for more hard times.
This is coming from two Opposition Members of Parliament Dr Roodal Moonilal and Rushton Paray.
Expect more taxes and an increase in fuel prices they said.
The two spoke extensively about the country’s economic situation at a media conference on Sunday and said there was no plan for diversification or growth strategy.
The budget is carded to be read in Parliament by Finance Minister Colm Imbert today (Monday, September 26, 2022).
Paray said, “The Minister of Finance will no doubt produce a budget that would continue to short-change the people of the nation.”
Based on their analysis of Imbert’s seven previous deficit budgets and the current state of the economy, Dr Moonilal and Paray predicted another increase in fuel prices.
Dr Moonilal said that the nation was in crisis in many areas.
“We have a crisis with the cost of living. We have a crisis with crime and insecurity. We have a crisis with joblessness,” Dr Moonilal said.
He noted that even though the Government had gradually reduced the fuel subsidy since 2016, it has done very little to improve public transport which included improving the quality of roads.
Dr Moonilal also said Government will speak of development in Port-of-Spain and projects that have been on the table for several years which was nothing new.
“All their promises that they are doing highways and roads, while they are promising that, they are doing precious little in terms of fixing the infrastructure.”
“We are going to move from Covid to chaos when the prices go up for transportation,” Dr Moonilal added.
Paray said that Imbert may again blame the Covid-19 pandemic for the current economic situation but it should no longer be used an excuse. Even months after restrictions were relaxed, Government did not have any major data collection to measure its impact he said.
On the issue of foreign shortages, Paray suggested that the only solution was to increase exports or consider devaluing the currency.
The population should also not expect anything on job creation and that the true jobless figures were much higher than official figures.
Dr Moonilal said, “I don’t think he (Imbert) would speak to creating jobs. In fact, I think he may speak about taking away jobs and closing down industries as they did with the scrap iron industry,” Moonilal said.
On the issue of taxes, Paray said, “You cannot tax a nation into prosperity. Every economist knows that…His (Imbert’s) only bright idea besides his LED bulbs was to increase taxes.”
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is expected to give remarks on Monday evening at a media briefing following the reading of the Budget in Parliament.
