Opposition politicians share their budget expectations

Following the announcement of September 30 as Budget Day, Opposition politicians have been giving their reactions to the date and what they are expecting in the fiscal package to be presented by Finance Minister Colm Imbert.

Phillip Alexander, Progressive Empowerment Party: “The most significant thing that we in the Progressive Empowerment Party want to see in this budget is a proper accounting of what was done with the $60-odd billion we gave them last year

“With reports from the Auditor General suggesting less than prudent fiscal management, and with many ministries stating their full funding wasn’t enough to run their ministries, we the people want to know where all of this money is going. If the Fire Services and the Police Service have no equipment and all the Coast Guard boats are in dry dock, where did the billions to national security go? How is Public Utilities looking for an additional $4 billion when water falls from the sky for free and the natural gas is from left pocket to right pocket?

“The Education Ministry says it has a shortfall after renovations, but schools that were claimed to be renovated look a mess. Where’s the money? We’d like to see an increase in funding to both the Auditor General and the Integrity Commission. We want an expansion of the Anti Corruption Bureau and the Fraud Squad, plus increases to the FIU and Ombudsman’s office to assist investigations. At a time when citizens are being made to tighten their belts, the Government should be going out of its way to properly account for every dollar spent.

“We’d also like to see a repurposing of the army to functional national security that impacts daily lives or shut it down and send their funding to increase TTPS’ functionality. We’d like to account for the 90,000 idle acres of farmland the state inherited. And what’s being done to impact food prices? Is the CLF debacle paid off? Why does the state still control and still divesting assets from a company they have no claim to?

“Public health interventions to slow diabetes and heart disease due to poor diets should also be addressed to lower T&T’s health bill.”

Cumuto/Manzanilla MP

Dr Rai Ragbir: “Great date. I look forward to engaging in a lively debate on the Budget.”

Gary Griffith, National Transformation Alliance:

“It will be the same old same old budget, sound and fury signifying nothing. But since it’s the last PNM Budget before the general elections, you could also expect goodies and promises that they won’t be able to deliver. Unfortunately, nothing that will be of any tangible value to T&T’s development.

“As we’ve seen for the last nine years, when they found no other avenue to inject income into T&T apart from raising taxes, they’re going to tax their way to balancing the budget which is the only way they could as they have no creativity and out-of-the-box thinking capacity to ensure income can equate with expenditure. So the situation will lead to increased taxes burdening the people further and failure to do so would see T&T ending up with a deficit or being unable to acquire the required resources.

“No matter what the burden will be on people. We can expect the by-product of all this to be more inflation which leads to unemployment, business closures and migration, all of which leads to increased crime. It’s a domino effect we’ve seen with the budgets of this outgoing PNM Government and it’ll be the final nail in T&T’s coffin. The incoming government would have its work cut out to turn around the economy after the damage done in the last decade. It’s not irreparable but would require massive amendments including economic diversification and cent-by-cent monitoring of everything spent to prevent wasteful spending and mismanagement.”

Louis Lee Sing, HOPE: “This is by all considerations an early budget, which suggests the Government is preparing for an early general election. This is in sync with all the indicators that the Prime Minister has issued to his party. All of this represents an acceleration of governmental activity. Approval of an early budget gives the Government space to implement a range of projects intended to consolidate votes.

“I’m waiting to see what this Government, which has demonstrated a lack of capacity to create novel projects, will present. We don’t want another list of unfulfilled promises. HOPE is preparing for a May 2025 election.”

Mayaro MP Rushton Paray: “My primary expectation is the Government will offer a clear, strategic plan aimed at addressing economic challenges facing T&T, including the ongoing fiscal pressures, rising cost of living, and stagnating business environment. However, I’m concerned about whether this budget will prioritise sustainable economic growth or merely offer temporary relief measures. We’ve witnessed, in previous years, policies that focus heavily on short-term solutions, which fail to address the deeper structural issues: under-performance of key sectors like trade, industry, and tourism, plus insufficient efforts toward digital transformation.

“As UNC’s Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry, I hope to see robust initiatives aimed at creating a more conducive environment for businesses, fostering innovation and expanding digital economies. It’s imperative the budget seriously address fiscal and regulatory reforms needed to restore investor confidence and stimulate sustainable job creation. We’re at a critical juncture. I remain cautiously optimistic, but the government must prove it’s capable of taking meaningful steps toward a brighter economic future for T&T.”

Opposition Senator Damien Lyder: “Expect more promises that will be broken and goodies to hoodwink the population into returning PNM to office. If you want to know the truth about T&T’s future, listen to the Opposition’s response in the budget debate.”