Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne assured the Senate Tuesday that Trinidad and Tobago is not in recession and he dismissed suggestions that there is "wholesale unemployment" in the country. "It is clear that we will have some difficulty maintaining our level of expenditure. But at this stage we are not in recession," he said.
Browne was responding to Opposition Senate leader Wade Mark who wanted to know if the minister could assure citizens that the government would not devalue the dollar.
The minister said he would give the assurance that the Government has every intention of remaining committed to a flexible exchange rate and there is no intention to move away from that. However he pointed out fact the Government does not determine the exchange rate.
He noted that the global recession has negatively impacted commodity prices and that could affect the country's economic growth in this country. He added that despite the projected decline in revenue, the Government is maintaining a critical level of expenditure to sustain economic growth, while minimising the impact on unemployment.
He reiterated that there will be no cuts in salaries and wages and added that "special care will be taken to ensure the preservation of the senior citizens grants, disability grants, training programmes and social assistance programmes of all types".
The minister assured senators that the country's foreign reserves are healthy at US$9.4 billion, which is adequate to meet existing demand.
To support his claim that the country is faring better than most, Browne said there are signs that the real estate market is stabilising and the rate of consumer credit expansion was slowing.
"These positive trends all point to an appreciable reduction in inflation which is expected to fall to single digits during the second quarter of 2009," he said. Inflation has already fallen from 15.4 per cent to 11.7 per cent, he noted.
Browne also gave an upbeat picture of the country's "rainy day' Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF), saying despite the global financial crisis the investments returned 0.78 per cent during the first quarter of the financial year 2008/2009.
The return for the January to December 2008 period, he said, amounted to 3.12 per cent. And since its inception (March 2007-December 2008) HSF investment returned 7.53 per cent cumulatively, Browne said.
He credited "prudent investment decisions" for the fund's stability.
Browne was responding to Opposition Senate leader Wade Mark who wanted to know if the minister could assure citizens that the government would not devalue the dollar.
The minister said he would give the assurance that the Government has every intention of remaining committed to a flexible exchange rate and there is no intention to move away from that. However he pointed out fact the Government does not determine the exchange rate.
He noted that the global recession has negatively impacted commodity prices and that could affect the country's economic growth in this country. He added that despite the projected decline in revenue, the Government is maintaining a critical level of expenditure to sustain economic growth, while minimising the impact on unemployment.
He reiterated that there will be no cuts in salaries and wages and added that "special care will be taken to ensure the preservation of the senior citizens grants, disability grants, training programmes and social assistance programmes of all types".
The minister assured senators that the country's foreign reserves are healthy at US$9.4 billion, which is adequate to meet existing demand.
To support his claim that the country is faring better than most, Browne said there are signs that the real estate market is stabilising and the rate of consumer credit expansion was slowing.
"These positive trends all point to an appreciable reduction in inflation which is expected to fall to single digits during the second quarter of 2009," he said. Inflation has already fallen from 15.4 per cent to 11.7 per cent, he noted.
Browne also gave an upbeat picture of the country's "rainy day' Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF), saying despite the global financial crisis the investments returned 0.78 per cent during the first quarter of the financial year 2008/2009.
The return for the January to December 2008 period, he said, amounted to 3.12 per cent. And since its inception (March 2007-December 2008) HSF investment returned 7.53 per cent cumulatively, Browne said.
He credited "prudent investment decisions" for the fund's stability.
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