Budget day is October 1; no new taxes

File: Finance Minister Larry Howai

Finance Minister Larry Howai will present his first budget in the House of Representatives on October 1. 

Minister in the Ministry of Finance Vasant Bharath told reporters Wednesday there won't be any new taxes. He also noted that the government will keep its manifesto promises. He spoke in particular about property taxes.

"We do have some challenges with regard to that in terms of instituting the old policies because many things have changed," he said. 

"Valuations have changed and so on. So we are working towards being able to present something whereby we will meet our commitment which is that the population will not be paying more than they were paying previously."

He said Howai is still working on the final details of the budget, much of which was prepared by Howai's predecessor, Winston Dookeran. He said the budget would aim to strike a balance between stimulus expenditure and deficit reduction.

"I think it's common knowledge that we inherited a deficit of just over $7 billion. We got to ensure that we continue to provide some of the essential services, some of the transfers, we all know that gasoline is currently being subsidised. We have a major social programme that we want to ensure that we keep," stated Bharath.