Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Wednesday laid all blame on the last PNM administration for the Government having to increase the level of its borrowing. The PM was at the time making her contribution to the debate in Parliament on a Government Motion to increase the amount of money which could be borrowed. She said while it was disclosed that the present borrowing ceiling was $25 billion the Government was not going to be borrowing to the maximum amount. "From time to time you raise the ceiling but you don't borrow the (full) amount. "The Finance Minister (Winston Dookeran) has assured that $25 billion will not be borrowed." The PM told the Lower House that Dookeran is a "fiscally conservative" Minister of Finance. "That's why the economy today is stable," she said.
Persad-Bissessar said the real question is, how did we get here, to the stage where the Government had to increase the amount of money it could borrow. She said the Government inherited an empty treasury when it came into office in May 2010, and that the last administration left a debt of $21 billion.
The PM disclosed that there were millions of dollars in accumulated debt in almost every single state enterprise as of September 30, 2010.
They included:
• The Housing Development Corporation-$12 million;
• The Airports Authority-over $478 million;
• The Public Transport Service Corporation-$26 million;
• The Water & Sewerage Authority-over $206 million;
• The Regional Health Authorities-$2 billion;
• National Quarries-$11 million;
• The Urban Development Corporation of T&T-$3.4 billion.
"And you want to know why we have to increase the level of borrowing?" she asked the Opposition benches.
In a separate matter, the PM dismissed charges by the Opposition that there was impropriety in the appointment of an inter-ministerial team to oversee the construction of the Golconda to Point Fortin highway. Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley had charged that MPs, who were not Cabinet members, comprised the team and that this arrangement can facilitate (improper) payments to people for their land which was to be used by the Government for the highway. The PM said MPs have to be present on the team because the project involves the relocation of constituents.
She promised that the Government would also liase with the MPs of La Brea and Point Fortin (PNM MPs) on the project and that they would not be left out. She said ministers of several ministries which are involved are also on the team. "There are rules about procurement processes and those are the rules we will follow," she said. The PM also claimed that the contract for the project was signed under the last PNM administration before the PP Government came into office.