TANCOO: Citizens suffer while Imbert boasts
Minister of Finance Colm Imbert must be living in some alternative universe as he is boasting about increased revenue and balancing the budget while citizens are experiencing the worst standard of living that they have ever had in our country’s history. There is a disconnect between the reality of the conditions under which the citizens are living and the Minister’s illusion he is trying to paint to the population. This is the view of the Opposition Shadow Minister of Finance, MP Davendranath Tancoo.
For the last year the Minister has been making this same boast of higher than anticipated revenues, but citizens continue to see no improvement in their lives.
Tancoo declared that while Minister Imbert pursues the IMF mandate of a balanced budget, the Central Bank is reporting concerns of increasing “welfare dependency syndrome” with international studies also pointing to citizens having to miss meals simply because they cannot afford it. Everywhere there are signs of visible neglect. Public protests calling for the Government to act against the runaway crime wave enveloping this country, or for better roads, drainage, water supply, jobs, lower food prices, access to health care, collapse of small and medium sized businesses, access to foreign exchange etc. are now the norm.
Ironically, the increased revenues the Minister is boasting about has absolutely nothing to do with any decision or actions of Minister Imbert or his Government. The truth is that this increased income is completely due to higher energy prices prompted by the Russian-Ukraine conflict. The Oropouche West MP stated that the fact that revenue for the last month of the 2022 fiscal year is higher than what the Minister expected, suggests that Minister Imbert is completely clueless about the current state of the economy and of the price projections by international agencies. This is based on public information to which the Minister has access.
Tancoo noted that while Imbert boasts of higher revenues he is aggressively pursuing the further burdening of the citizens with increased water and utility rates, higher fuel costs and the introduction of property tax.
What is required from this Minister of Finance is the pursuit of policies and initiatives designed to create investor confidence in Trinidad and Tobago, to stimulate the economy, to create investment opportunities and permanent well-paying jobs. Having already spent over $400 billion dollars with literally nothing to show for it, and having presided over billions lost in corruption by refusing to implement procurement legislation, citizens would be justified to expect that once more, the benefits of this energy price boom would disappear into the pockets of a few.
It is clear that for Minister Imbert and his Government, the PNM now stands for the People Never Mattered.