By Clint Chan Tack Thursday, August 13 2009

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CONRAD ENILL...

ONE DAY after Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams said the country will face tough times in the new financial year, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday and Congress of the People (COP) political leader Winston Dookeran yesterday called upon Prime Minister Patrick Manning to tell the population what is the true state of the economy.

“I want Mr Manning to come clean with the real figures because he has repeatedly refused to do so,” Panday said. The UNC leader recalled that when the United States first began to experience a downturn in its economy, the Government insisted that Trinidad and Tobago was not experiencing a similar slowdown.

“The Prime Minister told the nation some months ago to tighten their belts. Now he is saying loosen that belt. I think what we have to do is concentrate on the very serious implications of what he is saying and the message his Cabinet is sending, which leaves the average citizen in a state of financial limbo,” he declared.

Noting Williams’ observation that the 2010 Budget will be difficult to configure, Panday urged Government to “redirect its expenditure from prestige and concentrate on spending money so that every home can have water, watercourses are cleared, hospitals have beds, roads are rehabilitated and on proper crime fighting methods. The Budget is due in mid to late September.

Dookeran, a former Central Bank Governor, described Williams’ comments on the state of the economy as “confusing and giving a feeling of contradiction.” He said while Williams stressed that the country was not in a recession, the data he provided seemed to tell a different story. Dookeran agreed that putting together the 2010 Budget will be a challenge and said Government’s entire industrialisation investment programme could be at risk since it no longer has “excess revenues to play with.”

However, Energy Minister Conrad Enill yesterday said Government has “choices to make” as it sets out its priorities for the budget. Government has presented a budget in lean economic times in the past, Enill said, and he did not foresee this being a challenge on this occasion.

As for the Government industrialisation programme, Enill said what will simply happen now is these efforts will be a little “less aggressive” and there will be careful determination as to which project gets priority. He added that financing is already secured for mega projects such as the Alutrint aluminium complex while others, such as the Essar iron and steel complex, will be funded in part by the company in question.