Wednesday, June 16 2010

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President of the Port-of-Spain Rotary Club Labib G Najjar, left shares a light moment with guests Biritsh High Commission Eric Jenkins, centre and Min...

Although Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said last week no money was deposited in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) for the period 2009/2010, Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams yesterday proved that was not so.

Williams indicated that a deposit of US$103.8 million was made at the end of April, 2010.

But it seems that Dookeran made a slip at last Thursday’s post-Cabinet press conference. When checks were made on his complete report on the nation’s business issued last Friday, it stated that in fiscal 2007/2008 TT $6,588 million was transferred to the Fund while no funds were transferred in fiscal 2008/2009.

Dookeran also stated that in May 2010, $650 million was transferred to the HSF. As required by law, a further TT $1.3 billion is projected to be deposited into the HSF in consideration of the prevailing energy prices during fiscal 2009/2010. When contacted yesterday former Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tsheira, admitted that no funds were deposited for the 2008/2009 but the important factor was that no funds were withdrawn.

She explained the HSF was intended to provide a cushion for the impact of a downturn in the public expenditure capacity as a result of the decline in oil and gas.

Nunez-Tsheira said when the projected revenues for a particular year fall below ten percent on what is estimated, it gives the right to withdraw.

“In 2008/2009, prices plummeted, oil prices collapsed from US$105 in June to US$35 by the end of the year and that is certainly circumstances for withdrawal so we could have withdrawn and we did not,” she said. Calls were made to Dookeran’s mobile but there was no response up to press time.