The San Juan Business Association (SJBA) has said it is "a bit concerned" with the projection of the oil price at $92.50 per barrel.
The SJBA was responding to the Budget presentation made in Parliament on Monday.
"We need to be careful to not over stretch the projection of the country's revenue," it said.
The Association added, "With that said, we are pleased to welcome the following points within the budget;
● Reduction in deficit from 9.1 billion to 1.51 billion (7.66 billion down).
● Signal to bolster the construction sector with starting new housing projects. Housing allocation increased by 59% year over year.
● Increase in personal tax allowance for citizens by $6,000. This will aid citizens and counteract inflationary pressures.
● Allocations to increase road rehabilitation. 200 million for secondary road repairs is welcomed as well as 250 million for P.U.R.E.
● Local Government budgetary allocation increased 14% year over year.
● Ministry of Works and Transport Increased 7% year over year.
● The commitment to give further grants for machinery investment in manufacturing.
● Tax Amnesty for SMEs on interest and penalties. We would await the breakdown to inform us of who qualifies.
● We welcome the USD 166mil in the HSF. Alternatively, we wish to highlight some areas that are a bit concerning specifically in the following areas;
● National Security 2% increase year over year. Crime is out of hand and we would have liked to see a greater commitment in the form of investment in training and CCTV infrastructure nationally.
● We are not particularly pleased with the increase in fuel prices at this time as we have been warned by the IMF to manage inflation. The knock on effect of this will lead to increased prices to consumers.
● We did not see any commitment to deal with the informal sector for NIB. This sector of the economy is continuously being ignored. We also believe increasing the VAT threshold can be counterproductive from the point that the strategy should be to capture more of the informal sector. We need to pay attention to this issue.
● In an effort to bolster exports for TT, the international certification program should go across all industries and not only Food & Beverage.
● More attention should be paid to VAT returns. We appreciate the 4 billion payout in 2022 but more still can be done."
"In all, we must commend the management of the economy over the last year but we believe the revenue projection is a bit optimistic. We also believe that the increased expenditure profile presented will stimulate the economy. We are also pleased to see a focus on streamlining state agencies for greater efficiency. This will go a long way. We would also like to point out at this time and advocate that the government pay specific attention to relevant on the job as well as practical training in the public sector to further add to increasing efficiency and performance within state agencies. In all, we give the budget a score of 7.5 out of 10."
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