With the passing of the 2022 Budget in the Senate two days ago, the Government is now equipped with the resources to put our nation on the road to recovery.
While some wanted a more detailed plan of action from the Minister of Finance, others thought it was a rehash of previous budgets and too long.
We must remember we were already presented with a long term plan of action when the Prime Minister, in his wisdom, presented his Roadmap to Recovery Plan.
The combined minds of Robert Bermudez, Karen Darbasie, Christian Mouttet, Vincent Periera, Prof Karl Theodore and Michael Annisette were just a few of our citizens who answered the call to give us this recovery Bible.
In May, after MSJ leader David Abdulah lamented that the plan had disappeared. Planning & Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis refuted this by saying,”One of the things that has been echoed ever since the announcement of the Roadmap to Recovery Plan for Trinidad and Tobago, is that our national budget, Public Sector Investment Programme, T&T’s National Development Strategy: Vision 2030 all dovetail to ensure that we overcome the effects of the economic challenges brought about by the decline in energy commodity prices and the COVID-19 virus while still meeting our commitments.”
The Government must understand that many persons like Abdulah may have heard of other plans and promises which never materialised.
The prod by Abdulah is needed to keep pushing government’s policies along this road, albeit the road may be filled with potholes.
Why have some plans failed before?
Well, in some cases, the driver may not have the ability to drive, as Chalkdust sang, ‘After Eric old car break down ... The new driver cannot drive’.
Well, corruption, mismanagement, nepotism, inability to build a cohesive team and country, money to burn, failure to motivate civil servants to execute plans, were some of the problems encountered.
Why try to maintain the car when our Petrodollars can purchase a new engine? Why fix your passenger team when they are expendable crapauds? If you throw out pottage from your window, you will always have your dependant and dependable minions push your broken car along till they die.
Well, we now have a six-year-old car with a capable team, but we got a gas choke with the COVID-19 virus, and with the drop in oil and gas prices, it is more difficult to maintain our vehicle, but we can do it if each citizen sees it as their duty to help push the car along, to push the car back on the road if the driver and his team steers off course.
We may need new road laws like the procurement legislation, traffic wardens like the opposition and civil society, and a reminder to the new team of their great importance to give directions to the driver to safely manoeuvre the car towards its destination.
The problem of balancing the Budget is needed to let the external investors, the lending agencies, and the rating organisations know that we are making the correct decisions. But the majority of the individuals in Trinidad and Tobago do not care about that. They want to know about their standard of living, they want to know that they can get efficient services, affordable food, employment, security, proper infrastructure, such as an adequate supply of water, proper roads and broadband services. I would have hoped monies spent on megaprojects like the Tobago Airport Terminal and Toco port could have taken a back seat until our other needs were satisfied. It is the day-to-day issues that are important to the majority. We have had various plans to determine what direction society should move in economically, but it is weighed down by partisan politics.
The Minister of Finance, Mr Colm Imbert, has indicated how he intends to raise revenue by taxes gained from gambling, personal income tax, property tax and the revenue raised from our exports.
The Minister of Energy, Mr Stuart Young, said that oil and gas prices are increasing and I find myself praying for further increases, but it’s causing me some cognitive dissonance because while I’m praying for that, I know petrol products are bad for the environment.
There is an evolving need to prioritise our limited resources and protect our economically vulnerable groups. This Budget has attempted to do this. It has seen the need to give the necessary social relief while attempting to economically reboot and facilitate the recovery efforts of the private sector. The Budget got a thumb’s up from the various business chambers.
While not all may agree on everything presented in the Budget, it is vital we examine all our possibilities and be guided by a strong sense of patriotism to find the best options to travel down the road to recovery.