By next week it will be decided whether Soca Monarch will take place this year.
Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, speaking at the launch of Carnival which took place at the Queen’s Park Savannah yesterday, said discussions were held with the organisers on Thursday but a final decision was yet to be made.
Saying that “corporate sponsorship had dried up” Gadsby-Dolly said Government was also forced to issue cut backs given the tough economic times.
“The question really is they have gotten a reduction in their sponsorship...corporate sponsorship has all but dried up and they are awaiting word with respect to their main sponsors to find out whether or not they can have the event.
“As the Ministry of Culture have indicated to them we would support the event and we have indicated to them that the level of funding would naturally mirror the reduction that we have received.
“We are awaiting a proposal to send this to Cabinet and they have indicated that they would send this to us early next week. Once we receive that we will be able to give them a final figure,” Gadsby-Dolly said.
On whether Carnival was profitable or not she said there were a lot of companies which benefited tremendously from Carnival.
But the minister said data to give an overall picture on the profitability on Carnival was not available.
Gadsby-Dolly said the Planning Ministry had undertaken an economic impact assessment in 2017 and was waiting the final report.
“We are still trying to gather some data and that’s one of the issues. In T&T a lot of people are very cagey about how they give their information about how they have actually provided to Carnival.
“That has been a challenge we have been facing but we are trying to pull that impact assessment together because that would really map how the monies flow for Carnival and I assure that many companies make a profit off it and then the individuals as well because there is the domino effect,” Gadsby-Dolly said.
She said such a study would show who really made the money and how the country benefited from it.
“Even though the mandate of the NCC (National Carnival Commission) was to make Carnival a viable festival it has not traditionally operated live that,” Gadsby-Dolly said.