By Andre Bagoo Friday, September 10 2010

ECONOMISTS and business stakeholders yesterday urged Finance Minister Winston Dookeran to keep his 2011 Budget promises, as some described the Government’s fiscal plan as “aggressive” and “bold”.

“I am really hoping that this is a Budget where things will come to pass,” consultant and former Independent Senator Diana Mahabir-Wyatt said at the traditional post-Budget breakfast meeting of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce (TTCIC) at its headquarters at Westmoorings.

“Each year we have been promised a national oncology centre and the completion of the Scarborough Hospital. I really want to believe we will get these things according to the schedule you have put out into the Budget,” she said.

“We have our hopes pinned on you. You may really be the most important person in the country,” Mahabir-Wyatt added as Dookeran looked on.

Wyatt, who is also a commissioner on the Commission of Inquiry into the 1990 attempted coup, is a director of Personnel Management Services Limited. She noted the Budget has slashed spending on national security, a measure which matched her own belief that investing in crime fighting has not been bringing results. “Perhaps the answer is not money,” she said. “There are other things.”

TTCIC president Angella Persad praised Government’s consultation process going into the Budget and noted that stakeholders could not get “everything they wanted”. However, she said she looked forward to the Budget being presented in greater detail. TTCIC CEO Catherine Kumar once more signalled the private sector stands ready to partner with the Government as long as the conditions are right.

Ernst and Young tax partner Wade George said the Budget contained a “suite of fairly aggressive incentives in terms of the use of alternative energy,” he said. This, he argued, is a clear “precursor to the removal of the petroleum subsidy.”

Principal adviser of KPMG Ram Ramesh said the Budget contained, “more tax incentives than any other Budget that we have seen in the recent past.” He said it was clear Dookeran was aiming to restore confidence in the economy “in a very aggressive manner” through certain initiatives. These, Ramesh said, include the Clico bailout which will see the Government pay out to estranged depositors.

A member of the audience expressed uncertainty over the oil and gas prices on which the Budget is pegged. Others found the prices to be in line with international expectations, a sign that the Budget is sure to be deeply analysed and to yield differing subjective views.