While the Government has not yet announced when the 2025-2026 national budget will be presented, former finance minister Colm Imbert suspects it could be delivered next Monday.
Speaking at a press conference at the Office of the Opposition Leader, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Imbert pointed to parliamentary timelines and revised standing orders, which prevent the Government from spending money beyond October 31. He added that based on his experience, the budget exercise requires roughly 20 days to complete.
“A normal government would have indicated by now that the budget would be in the next couple of days. I expect that if they are behaving normally, it will be on the 6th of October. With the new standing orders, you have to give the leader of the opposition three clear days. I always had the budget on a Monday, so the three clear days would have been Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then the leader of the opposition begins on Friday.”
Imbert stressed it was critical to adhere to the traditional timelines to minimise disruption of operations across the country.
“If you start on the 6th, you will get to the 26th or so, and by the 29th or 30th of October, the President would have assented to the bill. The Government cannot spend any money beyond the 31st of October, according to the law. They have that period, the month of October, to spend; they are allowed to spend ten per cent of what was spent in the previous year during the month of October. If the first of November reaches, if the budget is not assented to by the President, then the Government can’t spend any money.”
On September 12, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told reporters outside Parliament to expect an early October budget, which she said would be a deficit one.
Meanwhile, on Standard & Poor’s recent adjustment, which saw the country’s outlook shift from stable to negative, Imbert explained that the ratings agency’s review followed a July visit, with information assessed up to April this year.
According to Imbert, S&P cited two key factors: an increase in the national deficit, as the United National Congress (UNC) Government raised it to over $9 billion in the mid-year review without identifying any additional revenue sources; and the Government’s scrapping of revenue initiatives developed under the former People’s National Movement administration, such as the T&T Revenue Authority and the property tax.
“If you’re going to collect $3 to 5 billion additional through an enhanced and modernised revenue collection system, then certainly that is gone, and remember we had a $3-5 billion deficit. So, if the revenue authority was in full operation and achieved its full potential, we would have had a balanced budget. So, certainly, the scrapping of the TTRA is a weighty matter.”
Imbert said he could not confirm whether the past revocation of the Dragon gas cross-border deal was another factor weighing on investor confidence.
On Tuesday, the United States government reversed its earlier decision to revoke two Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licences for exploration of the Dragon and Cocuina-Manakin fields in Venezuelan waters. The reversal followed a meeting between Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, DC.