Political leader of the Congress of the People (COP) Prakash Ramadhar has agreed that a deficit budget may not be a good thing, but he says it is necessary at times when the Government has to protect the vulnerable. Ramdhar's comments comes weeks before the Government unveils a fourth deficit budget, a move that has been strongly criticised by the labour leaders. Speaking to reporters at the COP's Canboulay celebrations held in La Brea on Friday night, Ramadhar said the Government has been attempting to stabilise the economy by providing educational opportunities and assistance to the poor and destitute. However, he urged citizens to emancipate themselves from the grips of unproductivity and seek out their full potential, as the Government would not be able to take care of them for long.
"This country will need to face the reality that oil and gas are fast depleting and so we need to be productive everywhere. I am a firm believer in making your own way. In terms of the Government policy, I believe we have to liberate ourselves from the belief that the Government will always look after everything. We need to transition ourselves to the new reality that oil and gas are depleting," he said. He added that the Government was attempting to revolutionise the economy through agricultural development. "That's why we see agriculture as a top priority. If you can't feed yourself you can never be rich," he added.
However, he defended the Government's decision to have a deficit budget and said: "Deficit spending is not a good thing but sometimes it is necessary to save and make an intervention in the economy, so that there is no social meltdown and deprivation." He said because of this, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar took the initiative to split the URP under three Ministries-Local Government, Minister of People and Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that labour was productive. Ramadhar said that T&T also needed to look at maximising its resources. Even though he was not in the Agriculture Ministry, Ramadhar said as a concerned citizens he felt it was a waste of resources to sell cocoa wholesale, when the finest chocolateurs in the world knew that T&T had the finest cocoa.
He also said that T&T had the world's hottest pepper called the Scorpion, but it has not been marketed as a niche product effectively. Ramadhar said T&T was a mystery to the world but citizens must play a role in upkeeping the economy by being more productive and working to their full potential. He said the Government must strive to bring improvement in all communities despite political divisions. He said it was only when all the people of T&T unite, can the country weather the global economic storms.