Jun 2010 Financial News

THA presents $3.5b budget

Jun 22, 2010

The Tobago House of Assembly has presented $3.5 billion budgetary estimates for the fiscal year 2010/2011. It was presented yesterday by the Secretary of Finance, Dr Anselm London, at the Jerningham Street chamber.

The Finance Secretary’s presentation began at 10 am and lasted one hour and took the theme: “Newly Emergent Challenges and Economic and Social Development of Tobago”. London divulged that overall recurrent estimates amounted to $1.9 billion. Those, he said, included personnel expenditure—$631.2 million; goods and services—$271.1 million; minor equipment purchases—$33.1 million; and, transfers and subsidies—$287.5 million. He also noted that 2011 estimates for development programmes totalled $1.6 billion; productive sectors $2.7 million; economic infrastructure $599.3 million; social infrastructure $692.7 million and multi–sectoral and other services $279.5 million.

London stressed the budget was geared towards maintaining the standard of living of Tobagonians and to provide increased employment for Tobagonians within various programmes of the Assembly. He said: “Significant effort would be placed on creating employment, especially youth employment. This means that young tertiary level education graduates must be able to find employment in Tobago, commensurate to their skills. The PNM trained them and the PNM will hire them, in service of Tobago,” he said. London added there also would be increased employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled persons in Tobago. He said: “We also were urged to help increase employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled persons, whether in Tobago’s expanding private sector or within the Assembly’s many programmes, such as in the development programme, URP, Cepep, the Litter Eradication Programme and other such programmes. We shall do exactly that in fiscal 2011.”

The Finance Secretary added that beyond recurrent and development programme estimates for the upcoming fiscal period, the overall fiscal package of the Assembly includes provisions for the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) and the Community Enhancement, Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep), in the amounts of $83.2 million and $35.1 million respectively. He said: “Notably, included in these estimates are provisions for increased wages for both URP and Cepep workers, consistent with the election platform pledges made by the People’s Partnership nationally and by their election candidates in Tobago East and Tobago West.”

Some highlights for the overall proposed expenditure estimates are the allocation of $2 million towards the Elite Athlete Development Institute; establishment of a centralised composting facility at Goldsborough; support for the Tourism Rolling Plan — $60 million; assistance to small properties in the tourism sector— $15 million; and, the allocation of $15 million to help kick start the Tobago Venture Capital Company. The budget debate continues on Thursday.


Source:
Cassandra Thompson-Forbes
Trinidad Guardian
Tuesday June 22, 2010

http://guardian.co.tt/news/politics/2010/06/22/tha-presents-35b-budget