Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday described the Budget as a “debt trap.”
Analysing the fiscal package moments after Finance Minister Colm Imbert delivered his presentation, she said the People’s National Movement had offered nothing new to the poor and vulnerable, as all Imbert’s speech was “plenty talk...less money and more taxes.”
Saying the Budget was a repeat of the 2015/2016 fiscal package, she said, “It’s like deja vu. It’s a repeat and they have no plan in terms of how we take the country forward for sustainable revenue generation. Once you cannot get the revenue, then we are going to fail.”
Persad-Bissessar said this year’s Budget was “haphazard, vykie vie and a cut and paste,” similar to what Imbert offered the population in 2015, adding for T&T’s budget to be $55 billion meant trouble. While there was a 17 per cent cut in expenditure in the overall Budget, Persad-Bissessar said there was greater concern with respect to revenue streams.
“I have not heard the minister clearly identify revenue streams in terms of where are we going to get the extra billions of the deficit or the gap between his projected revenue and projected expenditure. I am concerned about revenue streams. I do not believe we have had sufficient explantations as to how we are going to make up that $16 billion deficit...that means we are going into the debt trap.”
She said if the country continues along this path of borrowing and putting our hands into the “piggy bank and the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund” T&T would become “totally bankrupt.” As it is, she said, T&T was at a 60 per cent debt-to-GDP ratio.
Noting she was not convinced the measures implemented by Imbert would be sufficient to sustain the deficit, Persad-Bissessar said, “We would fall back into the borrowing pattern. I think it is hilarious, if not ludicrous, that the Minister of Finance would come here to say he has wiped off the credit balance. How did he do it? He said he had a successful road show. You had to be really brass and bold face to come and trumpet that as great success.”
She said all Imbert has been doing was putting “credit onto credit.”
Persad-Bissessar also expressed concerns about the reduction of allocation to the National Security and Education ministries.
“I note that National Security and TTPS there is a cut of 24 per cent, which is double the cut the minister say for the overall reductions. I know priority one is the fight against crime.”
She said last year, there was a big cry about this ministry being allocated $10.1 billion.
“Of course murders continue to rise...it is 433 and climbing.”
Education, she noted, was also slashed by 26 per cent.
Given the 17 per cent overall cut, Persad-Bissessar said she would now have to do an analysis to determine if this would result in job cuts.
Persad-Bissessar also questioned how much money Government would collect from property tax, saying they would not be able to undertake such an enormous task.
The only thing that was offered to the small man, Persad-Bissessar said, was the 25 per cent rebate on the electricity bill for 120,000 households whose bill is $300 and under, but she questioned if Government had intentions of increasing the electricity rate in 2017.