Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert says prime min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley had a right to give back­ground in­for­ma­tion on the econ­o­my dur­ing his two-part ad­dress to the na­tion ear­li­er this week.

The prime min­is­ter was crit­i­cised for spend­ing too much time talk­ing about pre­vi­ous years as op­posed to the gov­ern­ment's plans for the coun­try go­ing for­ward.

Speak­ing on the Morn­ing Brew, Min­is­ter Im­bert says the last three years have been dif­fi­cult.

How­ev­er, he was asked whether the prime min­is­ter's ad­dress was the launch of the PNM's elec­tion cam­paign.

While crit­ics have ac­cused the prime min­is­ter of pre­sent­ing in­ac­cu­rate fig­ures on the econ­o­my, the Fi­nance Min­is­ter says they are be­ing mis­chie­vous and in­sist­ed that the fig­ures are all de­rived from bud­get doc­u­ments.